Kemebata-Tembaro and Halaba special woreda project
Case story-1
Ato Deboch Achiso is a 64 year old farmer who lives in Kembata-Tembaro zone, Damboya Woreda, Giyota-Gerba area. He developed a gradual painless loss of vision on his right eye since he lost his left eye’s vision 8 years ago due to trauma. Consequently, because of his vision impairment, Ato Deboch had no means of income to support his family for two solid years.
In one fortunate day, Ato Deboch heard that through ORBIS International Ethiopia support, outreach campaign for cataract surgery was taking place at the nearby Woreda, Demboya Health Centre. He decided to try his luck and see if he can find help for his worsening eyes condition.
Accompanied by his daughter Bekelech Deboch, Ato Deboch headed to the outreach center hoping he would regain his sight in both eyes. They had travelled around 4 Kms for several hours on foot before they got to Damboya health centre.
After being examined by Ato Asrat Gebre, a cataract surgeon, and his assistance Ato Mesfin Hailemariam, an ophthalmic nurse , Ato Deboch was found to have an age related mature cataract in the right eye who is able to appreciate light alone and luckily this is a reversible cause of blindness through surgery which only takes about 20 minutes. However, dense corneal opacity was found in his left eye with no light perception which is an irreversible situation.
Figure 3 Ato Deboch before surgery
Afterward, suture-less cataract surgery followed by lens implantation was done for the right eye on May, 24/2013. Deboch’s vision on the first post operative day was 6/18 which was well improved to 6/9 on the following week. Ato Deboch was very excited by the outcome of the surgery and thanked his Lord for taking him out of the greatest darkness of his life. He further thanked ORBIS’s help which played a key role on restoring his sight.
Figure 4 Ato Deboch during surgery
Ato Deboch’s family were thrilled by the surgery outcome and stated “This is like being born again, thank you ORBIS”.
The surgeon, Asrat Gebre, expressed his excitement by quoting “nothing makes me happier than seeing someone who was blind for a long time could walk by themselves just a day after the surgery”.
Case story-2
Kebeme Genero is a 35 year old housewife who lives in Kembata-Tembaro zone, Damboya Woreda, Dato kebele. Her husband’s monthly salary is 200.00 birr (around 11 USD) which is extremely low earnings. She could not financially contribute and support her family because of her deteriorating eyes condition.
Mrs. Kebeme educes sticky eyes with watering muco purulent discharge with complete Entopion trichiasis. She also suffered from Entopion Trichiasis with recurrent attack of trachoma for more than 10 years. Because of her husband’s poor monthly income, she never received any medical treatment ever since her eyes got infected.
Figure 5 Mrs. Kebeme before surgery
Passing through years of painful segment of her life, Mrs. Kebeme heard about an outreach cataract campaign to be held in the nearby Woreda Health Centre through Extension Health Workers and community awareness activists. Accompanied by her husband Umer Lentiro, Mrs. Kebeme travelled to Damboya Woreda Health Centre by foot which is 7 kms away from where she lives.
After Mrs. Kebeme undergone with examination and pre-surgery preparation, BTR surgery (an eye lid corrective surgery to revert the entered eye lids) with lid clamp was done for both of upper lids. The entire surgery process only took 30 minutes.
Figure 6 Mrs. Kebeme after surgery recovering
After a week Mrs. Kebeme’s surgery, correction was done with a very good outcome. After experiencing the miracle, Mrs. Kebeme quoted “thank you ORBIS, God bless the Drs. Now I am relieved from any pain in my eyes”.
Figure 7 Mrs. Kebeme after surgery