Trust consultant spreads eye care learning to rural Cambodia

Imagine swapping a couple of weeks’ annual leave to improve the healthcare of those most at need in rural Cambodia?

Our consultant ophthalmologist Mr Indy Sian has done just that as part of a team of eye doctors and support workers, who this year visited some of the poorest villages in Cambodia to provide vital care and treatment.

Many of the individuals that Indy and his team supported lived through the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s, and have had little or no access to eye care during their lifetime.

“I was first introduced to this project, called the Khmer Sight Foundation, 18 months ago,” says Indy. “We essentially spent the next 12 months getting a team together that consisted of six surgeons, three scrub colleagues, two opticians, an anaesthetist and a group of local volunteers.

“As a corneal and cataract surgeon, I do a lot of complex cataract surgeries, much of which involve really dense cataracts, a condition that most of the people who live in these rural Cambodian villages sadly have. They also tend to have various growths on the front of their eyes – these are the type of things that needed treatment.

“We took along lots of old glasses from people who’d kindly donated them, as well as pieces of equipment that are no longer being used in the UK, and the Cambodian health authority had their own set of lenses and equipment that we were able to use while we were out there.

“So we could deal with high numbers of patients, four of our colleagues assessed individuals as they arrived, and we had three theatre beds operating at one time, with the anaesthetist injecting around the patient’s eye, before we’d treat their eye, either with cataract or pterygium surgery.

“It was literally an eye opener, as Cambodia is a developing country and a lot of the equipment they were using was understandably not to the high standard we have here.

“The ocular pathology they have is very different to patients in the UK, mainly because they don’t have screening set up, so we found that so many of the patients needed much more complex treatment plans. Thankfully, a lot of the medication that we routinely use in the UK work really well in complex eyes as well.

“We did our very best to give all the patients good outcomes, and it was great to see them over the next few days for their follow-ups, as we could track the level of improvement the treatment had made for them – they were so grateful.

“In all, we managed to treat a significant number of individuals, and we came back home with a real feel-good factor.

“One of the main things I learned during my visit was that all the people who were part of the project, and those providing care in Cambodia, are very kind and have respect for all individuals.

“I’ve told all my colleagues and friends across the UK about this amazing charity, and I’m trying to promote it as much as I can, so they might consider taking some time to help with the project too. Ideally, I’d love to make a return to Cambodia in a couple of years to help again too.”

Well done to Indy and other colleagues in the project for this amazing selfless act to improve the healthcare of people in this remote part of the world!