Some of the VOSO 2017 team, including chair Dr Andrew Riley (third from right), Kylie Dreaver (centre, behind) and Hywel Bowen (centre, front)

Volunteer Opthalmic Services Overseas (VOSO) spent a week in Tonga at the end of last year at the Vaiola Hospital in Nukuʻalofa. The VOSO team was led by VOSO chair Dr Andrew Riley and included Dr Hussain Patel, VOSO secretary Kylie Dreaver and trustee Hywel Bowen. The team was based at the hospital and was fortunate in having the opportunity to meet the King of Tonga, King Tupou VI.

VOSO worked closely with local staff, including Dr Duke Mataka, whom VOSO supported to come from Fiji to work with team.

The surgeons set a record for the number of surgical procedures performed in a week’s trip to Tonga, and the newly donated autorefractor was a great asset to train staff and better manage unusual refraction cases, reported Dreaver. The most memorable case was an undiagnosed diabetic patient, who initially presented with septicaemia then developed red eye. As he had had uveitis previously, he was treated with steroids, but was diagnosed by the VOSO team with orbital cellulitis and suspected endogenous endophthalmitis, she said.

“It has been nine years since I last went to Tonga on a VOSO trip and I was blown away by the changes. The new building was clean, tidy, well-equipped and air-conditioned. The staff could do and manage so much more than before. In fact, their scope of practice is greater than mine! I take my hat off to Dr Andrew Riley who has been volunteering and heading the trips to Tonga for the last consecutive 11 years.”

VOSO supplied 100 surgical kits for IOLs; 800 recycled glasses, including sunglasses; a donated chair and stand; plus lots of other optometric equipment that will be used in the Hospital’s eye department and outlying clinics. The donated glasses were processed by the Lions Club and the surgical equipment was purchased with funds raised at Dine by Donation at Merediths in November. The month was fully-booked and raised an amazing $11,377, said Dreaver. Sadly, though, there will be no more Dine by Donations as Merediths has been sold. 

VOSO is on the lookout for more ophthalmologist volunteers, so if you would like to get involved, please visit: www.voso.org.nz