Christmas gift for the visually impaired

RESIDENTS of Chitungwiza, mostly the visually impaired elderly people recently received an early Christmas present after they were treated for free at the city's public hospital.

More than 150 less privileged members of the community will benefit under the programme, which is being initiated by the Lions Club of Harare West and held in conjunction with Eyes for Africa and the Chitungwiza Central Hospital.

Archie Kufa, the vice chairperson of Eyes For Africa told The Standard the programme was meant to benefit older people with eye problems such as eye cataracts.

"This programme will benefit many older people because eye operations are now very expensive and beyond the reach of many. In private hospitals, patients pay up to $50 million dollars while other hospitals like Parirenyatwa charge up to $20 million," Kufa said.

He added that many people were taking advantage of the free service.

"Within a space of one and a half hours we had attended to more than ten people and many were still waiting to be treated." Kufa said shortly after the scheme was launched.

Asked why they had chosen Chitungwiza Central hospital, the public relations officer of the hospital, Elizabeth Tasaranavo, said the town with 1.2 million people had a huge population of old people.
"This exercise gives them a chance to get back their sight and live normal lives," she said.
One of the beneficiaries of the programme who identified himself as Sekuru Moyo said his eyes had been giving him problems for some time.