Hope for the Blind Hospital sets sights on scaling-up life-changing cataract removal surgeries

Hope for the Blind Hospital in Limpopo has set its sights on possibly scaling up its life-changing operations at the facility as the non-profit looks to address preventable blindness in rural parts of the province.

The specialist eye hospital, working together with First Light, focuses primarily on cataract surgery, making the surgery accessible to some of the province’s underprivileged patients.

READ: Some patients from rural Limpopo happy for the gift of sight

Using a cross-subsidy model, the hospital charges market rates for patients with medical aid, which helps fund surgeries for those who can’t afford the cost of treatment. 

EWN recently followed the journey of three elderly patients who were elected for the surgery.

This is what they had to say about what this newfound sight means in their daily lives.

From seeing grandchildren’s faces clearly to moving around independently at home, these patients describe a sense of freedom and hope they had not felt in years.

This programme goes beyond medical procedures. It restores independence, brings joy to families, and bridges gaps in South Africa’s public health system, giving rural patients access to life-changing eye care.

First Light art curator Johan Stegmann said: "In Limpopo we've got thousands of people in the rural areas, with a lack of access to healthcare, who are blind in both eyes due to cataracts. So, there's many people that could benefit from cataract surgery but people that are completely hampered by blindness due to cataracts are in the multiple thousands."