In the past two weeks, I have seen five patients with retinal detachment. When the retina detaches, one is not able to see unless it’s reattached by a retinal surgeon.

Here’s the irony—the only retinal surgeon I know who used to work in Mengo eye hospital has retired and is now doing private practice.

When I speak about private services, I’m reechoing that Retina surgery, is not affordable to an average Ugandan. An average Ugandan includes a doctor like me.

What does this mean to the five patients I saw these past two weeks?

It means they went back home with no hope.

One of those patients was an elderly man who was surviving on one eye. Unfortunately, that only eye got a retinal detachment last month.

It took him a delay of one month to look for transport money to come and see me. And when I told him that he will require close to 10 million shillings to access retinal surgery, he held his chin and looked down.

That’s the irony of life.

This post is by Dr. Gladys Atto, an award-winning eye doctor, doing amazing work in difficult to research and under-resourced areas of Uganda. She is generously accepted to be a CPAR Uganda Volunteer Expert. Learn more about her here