In Trinidad it seems that everyone is on a long waiting list. You’re either waiting six months for a passport appointment, another six months to get it. I know some men who’ve been waiting for months for their wife to give them something.

Recently I read an article that made me sad. You see, in Trinidad their are thousands of elderly people who are walking around blind from cataracts. Because they can’t afford surgery or access treatment. 

Not long ago there was a four-day cataract surgery mission organised at the Community Hospital of Seventh-day Adventists, Cocorite. Whether or not the drive was held on a Saturday doesn’t matter. 

Hats off to those involved. The mission aimed to service 4,000 people in 4,000 days. And although the specialised surgery takes about 4 minutes, there were delays in the process, because a lot of the elderly patients couldn’t afford $300-$500 for pre-tests. The organisers had to split their focus between screening and surgeries. 

Let that soak in. There are elderly folks in Trinidad who despite pension and family support can’t afford a tests that costs $300 to $500. That is scary, especially when you consider the cost of adult diapers. Adult diapers could cost at least $200. CAn you imagine old people hearing the price of diapers, because they can’t see the price duh, and saying, “Look at how  much money for pampers, is best I shit myself.”

According to the doctors, patients literally weep when the bandages are removed. One grandmother who had only see the shadow of her granddaugther for three years cried when she saw her face.

Imagine for a second, you’re old, broke, waiting on a passport appointment, and one day doctors from a foreign country come and you get a surgery to have your cataracts removed. The doctors remove your bandage and you see your grandchild’s face for the first time and you start weeping because the child looks more like your in-law, “Gosh, doctor, put back the cataract, put back the bandage.”

The good news is that Trinidad has the expertise and a doctor connected to the drive expressed his willingness  to train local doctors in the high-volume surgical technique. On behalf of the elders of Trinidad and Tobago I honestly hope that the Ministry of Health grabs this opportunity and trains local doctors to process at least 1,000 surgeries a day across Trinidad and Tobago.

Can you imagine public sector doctors watching this video. I could literally hear them saying, “Why he doh haul he mother …….”