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 CANGYUAN (Yunnan Province): For six years, farmer Ci Ahpo’s world had been pitch dark. Last week, he could see again. And the first thing the 63-year-old weather-beaten man could make out were the youthful faces of two Singaporean doctors. Clasping his army-green hat, he burst out in loud sobs as he thanked them repeatedly. The duo were part of a group of 12 Singaporean doctors and nurses on a volunteer medical mission in this impoverished corner of Yunnan, bordering Myanmar, to perform cataract surgery on villagers
too poor or too weak to travel to the nearest town or city for the needed treatment.
Led by National University Health System (NUHS) eye surgeon Loon Seng- Chee, the team, which had members from NUHS, Tan Tock Seng, Singapore General and Changi General hospitals – all travelling
on their own time and money – worked out of a spartan local hospital in this remote part of China for six days last week to help 49 farmers see again.
 Dr Loon, 41, who has gone on at least one volunteer medical mission a year since 2006, headed a similar mission to Cangyuan last year. Prior to that, the last time the local hospital offered eye surgery was four years ago, he said. “We can’t solve the cataract problem in this whole area, of course,” he said. “This seems like a mere drop in the ocean. But the individuals we operate on can see again.”
One at a time, the villagers – aided by a younger neighbour – shuffled into the eye clinic with their worn cloth shoes and bamboo walking sticks, fumbling for a seat. They were mainly from the Wa and Lisu minority ethnic groups common to the area, and most needed to trek hours down from their mountainside homes to
catch a two-day bus ride to the hospital in Cangyuan.
As for the Singapore medical team, its members took two flights and a six-hour night drive through mountainous, potholed roads – with 150kg of equipment and medicine, including microscopes, drips, surgical instruments, antibiotics and lenses which the group sourced from various donors in Singapore. “If not for the Singapore doctors coming here, we would have to find the means to send patients who need help to the nearest city. It would have been difficult and expensive,” said Mr Yang Jun, deputy chairman of the Disabled Persons Federation in Cangyuan who helped organise the operations. “And because the Singaporean doctors
speak Mandarin, the patients don’t feel nervous with them.”
The mission was an ad hoc one, facilitated by Dr Tan Lai Yong, a Singaporean Christian doctor who has been doing humanitarian work in Yunnan for 14 years. The Keppel Land-owned Spring City golf resort in Kunming, Yunnan’s capital, footed part of the bill, and the local government covered hospitalisation costs. Working out of a bare-bones operating theatre and a container-like mobile operating theatre trucked in from Kunming,
the Singapore team members took the challenges in their stride.
The Yunnan villagers’ cataracts were much thicker than the doctors were used to seeing back home – because they had been left untreated for so long. Dust and oil accumulated over years in the wells of the villagers’ eyes had to be cleaned out before surgery. Learning from last year’s experience, they put surgical caps on each patient and taped them down to their foreheads so that ticks would not fly out of their long unwashed hair. With a shrug and smile, eye surgeon Cheryl Ngo, 29, said: “Sterility and cleanliness is not something they are very careful about, and even the wards are crowded, dirty, and many family members sleep on the same bed. It is not ideal, but we push on.”
 Dr Stephanie Young, 27, a medical officer at National University Hospital (NUH) who also participated in last year’s mission, said: “We do a lot of volunteer eye screening for the less privileged in Singapore, but this is different. “We put in our own time and money to come here, and source for the materials and medicine. This is a small effort, but it is very much more from the heart. And when we see how grateful the villagers are, it is very heartening.” More than the surgery they performed, the Singapore team left behind much goodwill and set a good example, noted Dr Tan.
“Most poor Chinese might feel intimidated just to go into the town hospital because they would think, ‘Oh, I don’t have guanxi (connections) here, so the doctor will probably not see me’. For them to be bused here and have foreign – Singaporean – doctors treat them like everybody else, that must mean a lot,” he said. “Even as simple an act as giving them a bracelet with their name on it – which is standard practice in Singapore – meant something.” He added: “It may not seem like much, but helping 50 people see means helping 50 families too.”
Mr Ci, who had been blind in his right eye since he was in his 20s, would know that only too well. A cataract that developed in his left eye in recent years robbed him of his sight – and the ability to farm. His only son had to feed and wash him, and also carry him – all 65kg – to make the two-hour trek to and from their remote mountain home. Post-surgery, Mr Ci can be less reliant on his son. “I see more and more every day. Thank you,” he said, flashing a toothless smile.
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