Free Eye Clinic, a boon to poor

by Ranil Wijayapala

Wimalawathie, a-69 year-old mother of three living in Narahenpita thought that her life had come to an end when doctors at the Eye hospital told her that she was losing her sight in her right eye three or four years ago.

Dr. Dissanayake examines a patient

Although the doctors said that her eye could be cured at the eye hospital she had given up hopes as she was already fed up with the system in government hospitals. She had to be on the waiting list and also had to bear the related costs, even partial, to get her sight restored.

She was uneasy, and was depressed about her future. 'Better to die rather than losing one's sight,' she thought.

Her life today would have been a completely different one if she gave up hopes of leading a better life in her old age at 65.

Wimalawathie was trying her best to overcome that agonising feeling that hurt her. Like losing her eye her hopes to regain it were also blurred day-by-day without any solution.

But it didn't take long for her to live in such uncertainty. It was a brief message, a neighbour conveyed to her. "There is a place at Nugegoda to get your eye surgery done free", he told her.

But she had her doubts, until she visited that small eye clinic dedicated to elders in Nugegoda three and half years ago.

"They helped me to get my sight back doing the cataract operation free. I only had to get some medical reports done on my own", Wimalawathie said.

She was so happy that she got her eye restored after her cataract operation at the Akshika de Zoysa Memorial Eye Care Centre in Nugegoda run by HelpAge, a charity organisation dedicated to the welfare of elders.

A few weeks ago she started work at a private firm, as she knew it was only by working that she could lead a good life despite her age.

First operation

After her first operation Wimalawathie got her second eye operated at the same place to restore her sight.

"Now I can even threadle a needle as I got my full sight. Even at the age of 69 I am working at a private firm and earning my living as an independent person", Wimalawathie added with a sort of pride in her brightened eyes about her current status.

Today, three and half years after regaining her sight, Wimalawathie is back at the same eye care centre, but located at Sinsapa Road, Wellawatte just opposite Savoy theatre.

This time Wimalawathie had brought one of her relatives from Embilipitiya who is in need of a cataract operation, to the place where she got her cataract operation done.

It was not only her, a long queue of elders in their late fifties to eighties in need of their eye care were waiting to see the doctor.

G.M. Welle (72), an unmarried woman, from Gorakana, Moratuwa is another patient who had come there to get a cataract operation done.

She had got her left eye operated for cataract in March, 2010 and now she is waiting to get her right eye operated and waiting till Jinadari Gunawardene gives a date for her operation.

Dr. Udeni Dissanayake and Dr. Jayantha Senanayake are working full time at the HelpAge eye care clinic at Wellawatte taking care of all these elderly people coming there in need of eye care.

Whilst attending to one patient Dr. Udeni Dissanayake said that HelpAge eye care centre was mainly for patients over 55 and who have no income to afford the cost of the lense.

When elderly people are checked for cataract operations even at Government hospitals they are asked to have a lense for their operation.

"The lense cost about Rs. 11,000. There are cheaper lenses for Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 2,000 also. Some elderly people are unable to afford that cost for their operations. Those patients come here for their cataract operations", she added.

They have to bring a letter from the Grama Sevaka when they come there for cataract operation certifying that they are from low income families.

Bring reports

"They are requested to bring ECG, blood sugar report and a urine test report, and if they have heart problem, they have to bring a letter from their particular doctor saying whether it is safe to operate", explaining the procedure adopted there at the eye care unit, so that patients with risks are not being treated at the eye care centre, Dr. Dissanayake said.

"We send them to the Eye hospital and Dr. Champa Banagala who is one of our council members is taking care of them", she said.

The HelpAge free eye care centre gets about 35 to 40 patients for cataract operations and post operation patients.

Patients awaiting treatment                                     Pix: K.D. Dharmawardane

"We can do about 20 operations per day. But we do a maximum of about 15 since doctors also get exhausted. And the two doctors take turns one day in the clinic and the other day in the theatre", she added.

The hospital which was opened in May 2009, in Wellawatte is equipped with state-of-the art medical equipment and a ward to accommodate 20 patients. K.D. Dharmawardena, who accompanied me to this place showed me all the facilities there.

Withana, who is a volunteer at the HelpAge eye care unit takes measurements for the lenses.

"We take care of all the elders coming here seeking our help and take care of them during their stay here for their operation", Jinadari Gunawardene who is the Manageress of the Eye Care Centre said.

"But they should come with a guardian for the operation who can take care of them after the operation. Otherwise we won't accept them", she added.

Operation free

Deshabandu Tilak de Zoysa, the Chairman of HelpAge Sri Lanka and its Executive Director Samantha Liyanawaduge and Council members are contributing their utmost to make the process of giving the elderly people their 'second life' by conducting cataract operations free.

According to Tilak de Zoysa, it was in 1994 under the founder Chairman late H.P. Goonaratne they launched the eye care service. The HelpAge Eye Hospital was started in Nugegoda in a property leased free by Dr. Bernard de Zoysa in memory his late daughter Dr. Akshika de Zoysa.

"Thanks to the generosity of the British public and the HelpAge international UK for funding the project of establishing our new hospital at Wellawatte in 2009", de Zoysa said.

The land for the hospital was donated by philanthropist, the late J.W. Damscene Perera.

"We run and maintain the hospital with a donation from his majesty Kaboos Bin Sayed, the Sultan of Oman", he said.

At the Eye Care hospital in Nugegoda alone, the HelpAge had conducted 7,500 cataract operations free. "We are performing 15 operations at the Wellawatte hospital per day, he said.

"We are raising funds from selling Christmas cards, New Year greeting cards at banks, bookshops and supermarkets annually and through our direct mail campaign, he said.

"Anyone who contributes to this worthy cause, can be happy for their lifetime by observing the way these elderly people are conveying their gratitude for them".

"The HelpAge which had committed to improve the quality of the lives of elderly people in Sri Lanka is happy to maintain this centre as it gives new life to many elders who had given up hopes in their life after they lost their sight through the contributions of these philanthropists", de Zoysa said.