Eyeworld

EW IN OTHER NEWS August 2011 69 ASCRS Foundation's resident ophthalmologist gives update on Robert M. Sinskey Pediatric Eye Clinic in Ethiopian D uring the 2011 ASCRS• ASOA Symposium and Congress in San Diego, EyeWorld staff writer Faith A. Hayden sat down for a one-on-one interview with Kefyalew Regassa Gobena, M.D., the ASCRS Foundation's resident ophthalmologist at its Robert M. Sinskey Pediatric Eyecare Clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Dr. Kefyalew was traveling to the U.S. for the first time to attend the meeting and ob- serve surgeries. The interview fo- cused on the status of eyecare in Ethiopia, the clinic's achievements and remaining challenges, and the upcoming expansion. Below is an excerpt from their conversation. EyeWorld: Tell me about your- self, Dr. Kefyalew. How did you get into ophthalmology? Dr. Kefyalew: I was born to a family of farmers. We're not used to school; there is no education in our area. But one of my brothers was a pioneer in education in our area by just going to school. I followed him. I wanted to join him in learning. When I was in my clinical year at the medical school, I saw my oph- thalmology teacher managing cataract cases and was excited. What astonished me was that patients were blind today and then tomor- row they were able to see. It was completely amazing. I saw that and said, "I think this must be my area of interest, to study ophthalmol- ogy." EyeWorld: Is cataract surgery your favorite thing to do? Dr. Kefyalew: Yes, I enjoy cataract surgery. You can change people's lives. Sometimes patients will tell us that they have been blind for many years. I encountered one patient who had been blind from cataracts for 9 years. She was totally desperate. I did small incision extra- capsular surgery, and the next morn- ing she was counting fingers. She said, "This is my birthday! I was just born again!" Now she is able to see 20/100. EyeWorld: To go from com- pletely blind to 20/100 is incredible. Dr. Kefyalew: Exactly. Her life was changed. Of course, you can do many things in ophthalmology to change people's lives, but cataract surgery is a dramatic change. Some people tell me they've been eating with cats and dogs because they are blind. When you intervene and they are able to see, they say they are born again. EyeWorld: I understand you do glaucoma surgery in the clinic as well. Glaucoma is a difficult disease to manage everywhere, but espe- cially in your part of the world. What are some of your strategies? Dr. Kefyalew: In Ethiopia, we have few medical treatments for glaucoma. For almost 10 years, there were no medical treatments other than timolol, acetazolamide, and pi- locarpine available in Ethiopia. Eventually they started to import prostaglandin analogs. Doctors are not doing glaucoma surgery right away because outcomes are not good. Patients want their vision to recover, but that's impossible. I try to explain that and they will not ac- cept it. We don't have shunts in the clinic, but we are doing trabeculec- tomy. EyeWorld: Tell me about the clinic, how is it doing? Dr. Kefyalew: We are doing well and progressing. We are doing pha- coemulsification and most of the outcomes are very good. We have many patients. I joined the clinic in May 2006 and we did 168 cataract surgeries that year. The second year we did about 200. Last year, we did 528 cataract surgeries. At present we are charging about $68 per eye and still patients come. Patients are satis- fied and the outcomes are good. EyeWorld: What are some chal- lenges the clinic faces? Dr. Kefyalew: Most challenges we face in the clinic are the different constraints. We cannot go and get what we want for our patients. Of course we have the basics, but we don't have everything. We cannot August 2011 by Faith A. Hayden EyeWorld Staff Writer Sitting down with Dr. Kefyalew The Robert M. Sinskey Pediatric Eyecare Clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is undergoing an expansion Patients line up outside of the clinic in the mornings Source: Kefyalew Regassa Gobena, M.D. A 2-year-old girl awaits treatment at the clinic Source: Donald Bell continued on page 70

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