When Carmena Fenech was told she needed a cataract operation but would have to wait a while she never assumed it would be longer than a year. That was in 2005.
Last Friday, Ms Fenech, 74, finally underwent the 20-minute intervention for which she waited over five years, and is relieved the dizziness she had been suffering from is now an ailment of the past.
The surgery, carried out for free under local anaesthetic at Saint James Hospital, started at 1 p.m. and she was home by three.
Ms Fenech is among the first patients on the longest Mater Dei Hospital waiting list – some 4,750 for cataracts – to benefit from an arrangement between the government and private hospitals to tackle the problem of the backlog.
Following doctor’s orders, she is wearing dark sunglasses in the sunlight and has not yet been outdoors. But she immediately sensed the improvement and is just taking precautions.
Describing life before the operation, Ms Fenech said her vision often clouded momentarily and she would blame her spectacles, discarding them in frustration and worry. From last Friday, she is no longer wearing sighted glasses.
Back in 2005, she had felt a pinch in her eye, went straight to her doctor and on to the hospital’s emergency department. She was eventually told she had cataracts in both eyes but more acutely in her right.
Despite the long wait, Ms Fenech, a pensioner, considers herself fortunate and is grateful to have been among the first to be called up to undergo the operation and, more than anything, for doing it in a private hospital.
She thanked the Health Minister for the “opportunity”, saying she had never set foot in a private hospital before and could never afford to.
“I felt so comfortable. I felt at home,” she repeats in amazement about her experience at Saint James. Not that she can compare it to Mater Dei because she has never had to be hospitalised yet.
The patient was impressed by the eye clinic team, the friendly staff and their “generosity” and looks positively at what she would normally have considered a daunting experience.
“I am terrified of hospitals and I am overcome by fear just visiting someone, but Friday’s experience felt like a mere treatment. I was more nervous about this interview than I was about the operation.”
Ms Fenech’s right eye was operated on and she is now hoping it will not be too long before the left one is sorted out too. “Maybe in a private hospital too,” she adds, almost accustomed to the luxury and keeping her fingers crossed for another “blessing”.
Ms Fenech had heard the news of the initiative on TV and wondered whether it would soon be her turn. The next day, she received a call. Within barely the space of a week, she visited Mater Dei to do the preparatory paperwork, which was fast and efficient, and was told she would soon be contacted for the operation. This time, the wait was shorter than she thought and only four days passed.
The initiative to tackle the waiting lists was announced about two weeks ago following an agreement between the Health Ministry, Saint James and St Anne’s.
Eye surgeon Thomas Fenech expressed surprise at the farming out of cataract operations to private clinics when Mater Dei’s ophthalmology department was planning to set up a cooperative by next month and to introduce afternoon sessions to cut the waiting lists.
What are cataracts
A cataract is a clouding that develops in the crystalline lens of the eye, or in its envelope, varying in degree from slight to complete opacity and obstructing the passage of light.
Cataracts typically progress slowly to cause vision loss. The condition usually affects both eyes but, almost always, one eye is affected earlier than the other.