Over a thousand people receive sight-restoring surgery in Ethiopia

The Himalayan Cataract Project works with more than a dozen hospitals and eye centers throughout Ethiopia to support direct service, provide education and training opportunities, and strengthen local and infrastructure. In late November, HCP supported a high-volume cataract intervention in Mekelle with partners at the Quiha Zonal Hospital. In a week’s time, the team provided 1,174 sight-restoring cataract surgeries with local ophthalmologist Dr. Tilahun Kiros, HCP co-founder Dr. Geoff Tabin, HCP volunteer Dr. Zvi Kresch, 3 local ophthalmology residents in their final year of training, and ophthalmic nurses from both Quiha Zonal Hospital and Bisidimo Hospital in Harar. HCP has worked with Quiha since 2008.

Training local ophthalmology residents is a cornerstone of HCP’s approach to education and training. HCP has relationships with all 4 academic residency programs in Ethiopia - at Addis Ababa University (Menelik II Hospital), Gondar University, St. Paul’s Millennium College, and Jimma University – and we strive to provide opportunities for ophthalmology residents to participate in high-volume cataract interventions to learn both the system as well as the surgical skills.