Turkish surgeons restore sight to 420 Ethiopians

A Turkish charity has given new hope to some residents of Gelemso town in eastern Ethiopia by bringing in ophthalmic surgeons who have helped hundreds of them see again.

"All 420 cataract patients have now regained full sight," Hacı Dursun Tunç, a member of the Sadakataşı Association's board of directors, told Anadolu Agency.

"The association has conducted operations on patients in different parts of Africa and Asia, where a great number of people suffer from cataracts due to a lack of hygiene and other infections," Tunc said.

He said the cataract operations have been conducted in cooperation with Gelemso Hospital, where many people, especially farmer families, needed the service.

The Turkish team of surgeons under the association have been providing cataract surgery services for free in Ethiopia, Pakistan and Somali, Tunc said.

"We operated on 700 cataract patients in Ethiopia before the latest ones.

"Words cannot express my happiness to see people blinded due to preventable causes see the world again," he added.

The town of Gelemso is located in the Western Hararghe Zone of Oromia regional state. Ahmed Mohammed, head of the Western Hararghe Zone Health Bureau, who visited Gelemso Hospital, said he was very grateful and wanted to carry out joint projects in the near future with the association.

The Sadakataşı Association was established in 2010 and strives to help the needy in poor countries.

According to the World Health Organization, cataracts cause a third of worldwide blindness, affecting approximately 12.6 million people. Cataracts additionally cause moderate to severe vision loss in 52.6 million people, 99% of whom live in developing countries.

In 2016, Turkish Airlines sponsored a team of Turkish surgeons to provide cataract surgery services to more than 1,000 Ethiopians in a weeklong program conducted at the Menelik II Hospital in the capital, Addis Ababa.