In North Mexico, Adventist Hospital coordinates over 500 eye surgeries in five days
Ophthalmologists and medical staff perform eye surgery on patients during a five-day medical initiative organized at the Vision Institute in La Carlota Adventist Hospital in Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, earlier last month. Images by Montemorelos University.
September 4, 2015 | Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico | Mariana Jaimes/IAD Staff
More than 520 low-income individuals from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, received eye surgeries thanks to a joint collaboration between La Carlota Adventist Hospital, the non-profit organization Medical Ministry International and a group of Christian ophthalmologists from the United States.
Patients crowded the Vision Institute Center in La Carlota Hospital, located in Montemorelos, Mexico, last month to benefit from the five-day medical initiative.
There were patients from nearby communities, some from Tamaulipas more than 200 kilometers away, and from Huasteca Potosina, 439 kilometers away, hospital staff said.
Patients wait to be processed before their surgery.
“There were 468 cataract surgeries performed, 53 retina surgeries and 4 pterygiums surgeries done as well,” said Dr. Pedro Gomez, Vision Institute director.
Collaboration between the Medical Ministry International and Chosen—a Christian organization made up of ophthalmologists from Texas and Louisiana—provided surgery equipment and medicines and covered their own travel expenses, according to Juan Carlos Pedraza, who oversaw the logistics of the medical initiative.
Seven specialists worked with a group of 21 local technical assistants, medical staff and spiritual leaders who made the initiative possible during those days, added Pedraza.
More than 100 surgeries were done every day from early in the morning until nearly midnight, all at a low cost said Pedraza. For cataract surgeries, patients paid $236 dollars. Cataract surgeries usually cost $1,183 dollars. Pre-laboratory work was $29 dollars instead of $118. Some patients even paid less than that amount according to the state municipal district’s Integral Development of the Family who pre-selected the individual with the type of operation needed.
During the week, patients who needed to stay overnight were provided lodging at the Hospital’s health center. Several Adventist Churches in Montemorelos provided lunch and dinners. Church members talked and prayed with the patients as they brought them food.
La Carlota Adventist Hospital has been holding this type of brigades every year since 2008, sometimes two or three each year, hospital officials said.
For more more information about the Vision Institute at La Carlota Adventist Hospital, click HERE
To view photos of the initiative, click HERE