Ramadan 2016

Another year, another Ramadan outreach. The 2016 annual Ramadan began on the 7th June 2016. As with previous outreaches our focus was on eye care- cataract screening, medication for minor ailments and dispensation of reading glasses while cataract surgery was scheduled for two weeks after Eid.

This was our fourth year, as with previous years we knew the turnout would be huge but this time around we made a few changes to ensure smooth implementation of the project, increase our efficiency and improve service delivery.

To start off this new and improved program we tried to deal with our biggest challenge CROWD CONTROL. The major problem was usually on the female day as they come as early as 3:00am to get numbers and start lining up. Women face multiple barriers in terms of access to healthcare, due to this the outreach tends to have an overflow of female patients on their day.  To deal with this we had two staff members rotating on alternate days to come as early as 5:00am to give out numbers before the program commences at 9:00am.  Once we’ve exhausted the daily 150 numbers excluding children and the elderly we ensure every one with a number is attended to on that day. Therefore, not only were we able to reduce the amount of loitering and rowdiness early throughout the day, more patients were able to see the doctors in a timely and organized manner.

Another major change was the availability of a morning doctor and 2 nurses five days a week, wait time was reduced significantly for the patients. The program was divided into morning and afternoon shifts for the medical personnel. More patients were screened in an orderly and timely manner while stress was reduced for all staff members.

Lastly, we had a fast track team that focused on patients with low vision. The team was trained to identify cataract and emergency cases so they go directly to the doctor. Operational efficiency increased drastically because of this measure. Even though our services are free of charge patient satisfaction is a priority, we try to assess the needs of our patients and find systemic solutions for problems that drives our need for continuous improvement.

A few weeks after the close of the screening program we were ready for surgery at Jinya Hospital. Due to the high number of patients screened surgery commenced on Thursday instead of Friday as we normally do. From the very old to the young teenagers 220 eyes were operated on. We returned again for the one-week post op review and the outcome of the surgeries was good.