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There shouldn’t be a price tag on the right to sight – IOL

July 10th, 2020 2:50 am

By Reneva Fourie Jul 6, 2020

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I am supposed to rest my eyes, but my eyes are refusing to remain closed, because they can see clearly for the first time.

I was born with a sight impairment. I thought that spectacles (and later contact lenses) had enabled me to enjoy perfect vision despite the impairment. I was wrong. Having had intraocular surgery in Damascus, Syria, everything is so vivid, that it appears abnormally large. The cost was a fraction of the price that South Africans pay for normal laser surgery.

During the month of June, the lenses in my eyes were removed and replaced with synthetic, multi-focal, intraocular lenses. The lenses were designed to address my inherent short-sightedness (myopia) as well as the normal retinal degeneration that human beings naturally develop as they age. It is anticipated that I will now have perfect vision for the rest of my life.

I had to have one eye done at a time, with two weeks between the operations. Although it has barely been a week since my second eye operation; my eyes have been at work ever since their implantation. Despite strict instructions to steer clear of activities that will strain them, all efforts to close them and focus on other things have been impossible as the difference in quality of life is overwhelming.

Only people with sight challenges will understand. Seeing is a tiring and stressful exercise for those who are visually impaired, no matter how mild. It requires tremendous effort, attention, and focus. The consequences are multi-fold. There are endless headaches. Your eyes tire easily so you always feel a need to rest them. And of course, you try and avoid things that require good eyesight because looking is simply exhausting.

One of the things that you avoid, is being around people too much.Depending on the degree of impairment, you cannot see people clearly unless they are right in front of you. And while one learns to recognise those closest to you by using other means, it takes a while to become accustomed to new people; and so you avoid people in general to save yourself the embarrassment of appearing arrogant.

Then, you always have bruises. You are always bumping into or falling over things, whether you are wearing spectacles or not and consequently the label of being clumsy develops and is internalised. Academically you develop an excellent memory because half the time you battle to figure out what was written on the board. Personally, I had almost no vision at night, and having to move anywhere beyond my bed always made me feel extremely insecure.

If those were my experiences, and I had forty percent of my sight, which is regarded as moderate visual acuity, I cannot even imagine what life must be like for those with severe visual acuity and those who are blind. According to the World Health Organisation (2018) at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness. More than a million South Africans are recorded as sight disabled. Eyecare however, is not an integral part of South Africas health care system.

About a decade ago, I explored undergoing a laser operation on my eyes. Despite belonging to a top-of-the-range medical aid, the medical aid refused to cover the costs because the operation was regarded as cosmetic. The price quoted at the time was more than I could afford. Laser operations in South Africa remain accessible only to an exclusive group. Multi-focal intraocular surgery is accessible to an even smaller group. In Syria, a far-more sophisticated operation than laser surgery cost me less than the quote given to me back then for the laser surgery.

Laser operations in Syria are common. Intraocular surgery in Syria is common. Everyone who needs it, have their eyes fixed, when they reach the appropriate age. The right to sight is a norm and, consequently, eyecare forms an integral part of the public health system. Public health care in Syria is free and even private healthcare is much more affordable than it is in South Africa.

South Africa has far-reaching legislation to accommodate persons living with disabilities. The obliteration of that which causes the disability, however, requires further discourse and effort. Given that the costs of eradication are far less than the costs of maintenance; and the tremendous improvement in quality of life, the highest consideration should be given to ensuring that the latest technology be made available and accessible to all those whom it can assist, regardless of income.

As the country prepares for the implementation of the National Health Insurance, it is important that eyecare forms an integral part of the services that will be provided. The right to sight is not a luxury; it is not cosmetic; it is an imperative.

* Reneva Fourie is a policy analyst specialising in governance, development and security and currently resides in Damascus, Syria.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.

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There shouldn't be a price tag on the right to sight - IOL

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