Old people need good eyesight, says hospital official
Zomba Central Hospital opthalmologist Chinsinsi Nyirenda says the district has potential to attain Malawi 2063 enablers if the citizens, particularly the elderly, have good eyesight.
He said this last week in Zomba during the commemoration of 2024 World Sight Day under the theme ‘Love your eyes children’.
During the commemoration, Zomba Central Hospital, with support from the Blantyre Institute for Community Outreach (Bico), conducted free cataract surgeries on 80 patients.
Nyirenda, who is also the hospital’s Eye Department head, said that cataracts occur when the lens, which are small transparent discs inside the eyes, develop cloudy patches that become bigger causing blurry misty vision, leading to blindness.
“Cataract inhibits people from contributing to various socio-economic development activities,” she said.
Mable Wasiri, 67, from Senior Chief Mlumbe and Austin Makiyi, 70, from Traditional Authority Mwambo in Zomba said cataract made them unproductive.
Wasiri, who is a subsistence farmer, said she neither tended her farm nor saw what her family was producing on her behalf.
“My sight has been restored and this is an indication that cataract is curable medically,” she said.
Bico information and communication projects officer Glory Marrah commended the elderly for prioritising medical surgeries.
She said despite their age, adults are instrumental in the country’s socio-economic development