Africa Vision 29

Africa Vision 29

N’Djamena, December 30, 2007

Two ophthalmologists.

In one morning I had the pleasure of talking with 67% of the eye doctors in Chad. The first is a lady doctor called Zeneba who has done her specialization in Senegal. I think I wrote about the fact that there are no specialist training programs for doctors in Chad. Any one who wants to specialize needs to go abroad. As a consequence many do and never return to Chad. The salary for doctors in almost all countries in Africa is better than in Chad. The starting salary is 260 dollars and as all have received a student scholarship of 40 dollars per month for the entire study (as well as free study) there is a requirement to remain working for the public service for at least 5 years. As the compensation the government has allowed doctors to open up private practice. This leads to for example the hospital in Doba to have no doctor after 12 in the morning .

Dr Zeneba however seems dedicated to do some good in Chad. She has started her own NGO working on preventable disease. In ophthalmology there are several preventable conditions. To name a few strabismus (squint eye), trachoma (inflammation of the inner eyelid leading to strictures, or scotch tape eyes and eventually blindness), and vitamin A deficiency (eventually leading to blindness as well). Besides that there are the common problems of cataract. With an intraocular lens that cost no more than 20 dollars a lot of good can be done. She has visited several refugee camps in the Eastern part of Chad and is looking for partners in the West to collaborate with.

It so good to get to know highly motivated young colleagues, not at all jaded going against the odds, swimming against the stream. Too often people take the secure path and in Chad that can also mean going outside of the country as more money is to be made there plus the advantage of countries that are not plunged into civil war.

Dr Djada is the dean of the medical faculty as well as an ophthalmologist. He is also the chair of an organization keen on doing operations in areas where there is never access to doctors let alone eye doctors.

In the afternoon a representative of ophthalmologists without borders came from Kouseri across the border to buy some inter ocular lenses at Faizal’s shop. They have 6 centers in Cameroon of which four are in the Northern part. It would be a nice idea to go and visit. Clearly there is just as much need in Chad in proper eye care. Given the massive amounts of ophthalmologists it remains to be seen if that will happen any time soon.

One of the member s of the greatest good Caesar is interested in troubles of the eye so perhaps I can hook up these individuals with each other. And then there was the ophthalmologist Tim I met in Detroit. Good to put people together and see the outcome.

A merry new year and most of all a healthy one to all of you….Ashis