In 1979, a volunteer ophthalmologist from Negros Occidental, Dr. Fortunato Eusebio, went to Gujarat, India with Rotary International to work in surgical eye camps. He was so inspired that he shared the idea with his friends in the Rotary Club of Bacolod North, RI District 3850 of doing volume cataract surgery not eye camp style but in a hospital. He convinced them to start a project called “Sight Savers” with the aim of doing 50-60 cataract surgeries in one year. Each year the club raised funds specifically for this project. The patients were accommodated in school classrooms, which were converted to dormitories during vacation and ferried to the hospital for surgery. This involved the services of many club members, volunteers, and wives of the Rotarians, overseeing the meals and transportation of the patients and their ‘watchers’. There was great camaraderie and celebration but it was not cost-effective and the project was only reaching out to a maximum of 60 patients per year because of fund constraints of the Rotary Club.
Then something great happened. “Old men dream dreams and young men see visions”. In 1992, Dr. Fortunato Eusebio and Jack Po, with the same mission and vision to reach out to many more cataract patients got together a group of like-minded individuals and formed the Cataract Foundation Philippines, Inc. (CFPI). Jack Po at that time was anxious to expand the prevention of blindness program to reach out to more than just 50 beneficiaries but the club did not have the appropriate level of resources to respond. He became the president up to the present.
Negotiations were made with Riverside Medical Center, the best private hospital in Negros, whereby indigent patients could have their cataract surgeries at an affordable cost. The surgical supplies and hospital bills were funded by the Foundation.
The number of referrals and surgeries increased dramatically that in the first two years almost a thousand cataract surgeries for poor patients were done per year. Health professionals, community workers of NGOs and village health workers were trained to identify cataract and motivate patients to submit for surgery. Initially, the lone surgeon was Dr. Fortunato Eusebio (at this time 2 of his children, Jay and Cristina are in the team). It was most rewarding to see vision being restored to so many poor people. By working together, ordinary people (like non-medical staff, field workers and patients who had successful surgery and their families) were responsible for the high referrals.
In 1995 the Regional Director of Christoffel Blindenmission (cbm) saw the potential of Cataract Foundation becoming a model project and recommended partnership. CBM recognized the excellent efforts and surgical skills of Dr. Eusebio and a very committed Board and decided to make CFPI a center for learning, teaching, inspiring and motivating other young ophthalmologists and other non-government organisations. CFPI took on the role of managing funds, equipment, medicines and surgical supplies, and coordinating the eye work nationwide.
During the span of 13 years, CFPI has this total output:
218,000 cataract surgeries
- 69,000 other sight-saving surgeries
- 151,000 pairs of spectacles were dispensed
One of the notable features which the Foundation has done was to train ophthalmologists on Small Incision Sutureless Cataract Surgeries (SISCS), a cost effective alternative to the high-tech very expensive phaco and harnessed private ophthalmologists to volunteer their services for indigent patients with strong emphasis on community approaches to eye work.
The Foundation has been centrally involved in the development of Vision 2020 strategies - a global initiative by WHO for the elimination of avoidable blindness. The tasks of CFPI include mobilizing the community and creating awareness about cataract, training of health workers, rural health physicians, and community-based field staff of non government agencies in identification and referral methods.
CFPI initiated a noble idea called Munting Doktor or Little Eye Doctor project. Grades 5 and 6 pupils (11 and 12 year olds) were trained in a simple way to check the eyes of their grand parents and elderly neighbors. When identified, the children would either refer their ‘patients’ to a health center or a community eye worker will go to the school to do a final screening and refer the patients for surgery.
The 3 eye diseases identified by Vision 2020 that are significant in the Philippines as preventable and curable are cataract, errors of refraction, and childhood blindness. Cataract remains the main thrust of the program but we are also conscious of the growing need to address childhood blindness and errors of refraction. We are working closely with pediatric ophthalmologists or pediatric inclined ophthalmologists to create awareness among family physicians, pediatricians and to improve the early identification and referral of children with eye problems. We have mobilized the society of optometrists in some provinces to help with the screening of students 12-18 years old.
CFPI works in a cost effective manner, enabling it to provide services to a large number of beneficiaries in a country where a large and increasing proportion of the population live in poverty, and where access to medical eye services is limited to those who can afford to pay or are covered by medical insurance. Today, CFPI works with more than 20 other non-government organizations, 30 government ophthalmologists, and around 400 partner agencies and private ophthalmologists covering in 79 provinces.
Monitoring and evaluation procedures are in place and conducted periodically by the consultant and staff to ensure quality service delivery. Cost recovery is achieved through sponsorship from service clubs and private individuals and donations. Bulk purchasing of consumables reduces cost considerably. These are some of the methods to reduce dependency on foreign funding and an attempt towards sustainability. However, with indigent patients as the main target group, and the ever growing economic crisis it will be some years before greater local government and community participation, a national insurance scheme and increase in the national budget of the Department of Health for prevention of blindness will make it possible for CFPI to be completely self-sustaining.
Confucius once said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Cataract Foundation took that first step 14 years ago. With dedication of purpose and commitment to serve, we have been able to make a paradigm shift in the minds and hearts of many young ophthalmologists to journey with us in Restoring Sight and Transforming Lives to thousands of Filipinos.
Vision 2020: The Right to Sight is a global joint initiative of the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, with an international coalition of professional bodies, eye care institutions, Non Governmental Organisations and corporations. It aims to eliminate avoidable blindness worldwide by the year 2020.
