Medicinal experts in Taiwan successfully enhance the vision of a Swazi adolescent.
A 15-year-old lad named Hsiao, hailing from Eswatini and faced with severe vision impairment, was all set to jet back home yesterday with a substantial improvement in his eyesight. A series of eye surgeries in Taiwan over the past month, fueled by local doctors and broader public-private collaboration, made this life-altering transformation possible.
In mid-February, Dr. Sun Chi-chin, an attending ophthalmologist at Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH), took a weeklong stint in Eswatini for a medical mission. There, he encountered a local teenager nicknamed Hsiao, whose uncorrected vision, a mere 0.1, left him incapable of perceiving distant objects clearly or reading the blackboard. In Sun's words, Hsiao came off as "incredibly introverted, often with his head bowed."
Hsiao has been under the nurturing care of the Swazi branch of the Amitofo Care Center, a Buddhist NGO established by Taiwanese monk Venerable Hui-Li. This philanthropic organization, with facilities in several African countries, extended an invitation to Dr. Sun during one of his own selfless missions in Eswatini.
Eswatini happens to be one of the scant 12 states that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, making this nation the sole African state to do so.
Through financial aid from a Taiwanese company and assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arrangements were put in place for Hsiao to travel to Taiwan in early April for treatment. Sun revealed that owing to limited medical resources, eye surgeries are seldom performed in Eswatini.
Upon more examinations in Taiwan, the doctors discovered that Hsiao had previously undergone intraocular lens implantation in both eyes. Nonetheless, his right eye was still plagued by hyperopia and severe astigmatism, while his left eye developed severe iridocorneal adhesions and posterior capsule opacity. If left untreated, this might have eventually led Hsiao to develop glaucoma and corneal swelling, potentially robbing him of his vision altogether.
To rectify his vision, Dr. Sun and fellow ophthalmologist Yang Ling performed a slew of surgeries on Hsiao at Keelung CGMH. On the left eye, they implemented intraocular lens replacement as well as trans pars plana vitrectomy—a procedure to excise the vitreous gel. For the right eye, they executed photorefractive keratectomy, a kind of laser eye surgery geared toward rectifying vision defects.
These operations, completely covered by the hospital, brought about a considerable improvement in Hsiao's uncorrected vision, which now ranges from 0.5 to 0.7 in both eyes, thus enabling him to see the blackboard clearly and interact confidently with others.
When asked about his initial feelings before the surgeries, Hsiao echoed that he experienced pain in both eyes and as such took little action expressing any sort of discomfort. However, after the procedures, he testified that his improved vision has allowed him to achieve multiple accomplishments such as singing and dancing, and he dreams of becoming a doctor in the future.
After treatment and recovery, Hsiao spent approximately six weeks in Taiwan. Serenaded by the successful case, the hospital described this as an emblematic representation of the "solid achievements of Taiwan's medical collaboration with Africa." Now, Hsiao was all set to return home yesterday evening, a successful illustration of public-private collaboration spearheaded by dedicated Taiwanese doctors and magnanimous supporters.
In light of his eye health struggles in Eswatini, where limited medical resources prevented extensive surgeries, Hsiao benefitted from a series of vision-improving medical procedures. These included trans pars plana vitrectomy, intraocular lens replacement, and photorefractive keratectomy, all performed by doctors at Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH), as part of a collaboration between healthcare providers and philanthropic organizations, focusing on science, medical-conditions, eye-health, and health-and-wellness.
