adminRobin Muchetu Senior Reporter
RURAL health workers lack basic orthopaedic care resulting in many eye problems developing into serious cases as the health personnel are ill-equipped in terms of information and resources. Visiting US-based ophthalmologist Dr Steve Beaty said this during a free eye treatment day held at Gwelutshena Rural Health Centre in Nkayi last week.
“Over the years I have noticed that rural healthcare personnel are not trained well in handling patients with eye issues such that it is difficult for them to properly assist the patient.
“Many times they cannot differentiate between an emergency that needs referral to a bigger hospital and small procedures that they can handle at the rural centre,” he said.
Dr Beaty said there was a need for education and training of rural health nurses as they have to be up to date with the latest trends in the ophthalmology section of healthcare.
He said literature should also be availed to them so that they are in constant touch with what is happening around them in terms of health care.
Another area that Dr Beaty touched on was that of funding; he said resources should also be allocated to the health institutions to ensure they provide rural folk with good services.
Mr Makarichi Makarichi, the executive director for Youth in Business Development Association said they invited Dr Beaty as a way of giving back to the rural community of Nkayi as they were trained under the Presidential Scholarship.
“Most of the youths that are in our organisation are beneficiaries of the Presidential Scholarship so we decided to thank the President on his birthday by doing community work. We are grateful for the assistance we received to get an education and we are now in turn helping the less privileged,” said Mr Makarichi.
The youth organisation is a multi-disciplinary alliance of professional youths who form a medical team of volunteer doctors and ancillary staff who offer their services freely to disadvantaged and poor communities in rural areas.
Mrs Maratha Ndlovu of Hojeni in Nkayi, who benefited from the medical check-up, said she had spent years without being examined by a specialist and was grateful for the assistance.
“I came here with poor vision and they told me I needed glasses and eye drops of which they gave me and now I can see better,” she said.
Patients that had various eye conditions were treated and given medication and some glasses. Those that required surgery had their names forwarded to the Council for the Blind where they will be advised on the date for an eye camp and they will be operated on for free.
Dr Beaty, who was in the country with his physiotherapist wife Jane, said they visit Zimbabwe every year and do outreach programmes for eye patients in many rural facilities.
Some of the places where the Beatys have conducted camps are Tsholotsho, Gwanda, Victoria Falls and Binga.
They said they work together with church organisations who inform them on where there is a need to treat people when they come to Zimbabwe.
A local businessman who is into agro-processing, Mr Peter Cunningham, said the interest in eye care struck him while conducting trainings in some parts of Matabeleland South.
“We train farmers in various disciplines and they have to keep records of their work and also of their crops. Some were having difficulties in seeing and we found it fit to assist other communities by having their eyes checked,” he said.
The youth organisation said they wanted to be practical in helping rural communities such that they decided to invite the eye specialists to examine the people.
Online Reporter