Seven operations on six patients during one operation-day in the eye clinic
When he came into work last Tuesday Dr Werner Keßler had seven surgical interventions on his to-do list. In Germany such a list would be completed by lunchtime, in Peru, however, due to the severity of the Peruvian patients, it is a challenging workload, one could even go as far as to say, too much for one day. One blind patient had previously cancelled her appointment, but came nevertheless hoping to be able to see again. The eye clinic’s team decided unanimously to roll up their sleeves and treat all the patients.
Without exception all of the patients seen that day live in the Peruvian Highlands and travelled between 10 and 30 hours to reach the missionary hospital. Upon arrival at the missionary hospital none of them was able to read anymore, two of them had one blind eye, four of them could not see anything at all and one of them suffered from glaucoma.
We thank God that all the seven operations went well. The successful operation reminds me a little of the story of the valiant little tailor, a favourite fairy-tale from the eye-surgeon’s childhood. We wish our patients a speedy recovery.
(Picture above: the day after. Dr Werner Keßler during the follow-up examination of a young man. The patient, who was blind on both eyes, recognises for the first time who it is who operated on him. He is so relieved that he can read again.)
