Eye care for little ones

Published Nov 12, 2014

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For Dr Aritha du Bruyn, restoring the eyesight of young children is a labour of love.

She is one of only six paediatric ophthalmologists in the public sector.

Du Bruyn, 41, formerly of Pretoria, has been at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital’s Paediatric Eye Care Centre for the past four years. In that time she has treated cancer, removed eye cataracts and diagnosed and treated numerous other eye maladies.

“I love the greater variety that the state sector has to offer daily. The scope of work is always different, whether it’s teaching or running clinics, and there is a greater measure of pathology to work with, which keeps me challenged,” she said.

Du Bruyn said she loved to teach and work with the same patients who might have first come to see her when they were premature babies and were now attending school and doing well.

“It’s very rewarding.”

She said it was difficult when the prognosis of a patient was not good.

“But it is vital that one never gives false hope. It is so important to see patients when they are very young so that they can have the best possible outcome and receive early intervention and multifaceted support – be it social work, placement in a blind school or even neurological intervention when there is a delay in development.”

Du Bruyn said that she enjoyed working at the centre.

“There is wonderful collaboration between different departments and our common goal is to offer the best treatment and outcome for each patient. Although budgets are always tight it somehow seems easier (here) because the mindset is that if we need something to do our jobs, everything possible will be done to help us.”

One of the biggest challenges faced by the doctors was that of access to the hospital from far-flung areas.

“Some people don’t come for their follow-up appointments because it is simply too expensive. Some people come from as far afield as northern KwaZulu-Natal. Some don’t come at all for this reason, and when they do it’s usually too late.”

Eyecare NGO Orbis Africa funded an internship for Du Bruyn to attend a three-month apprenticeship with Dr Christopher Tinley, head of Ophthalmology at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town recently.

The objective of the programme was to give Du Bruyn hands-on training in the diagnosis and surgical management of complicated eye conditions, so that she could use this experience to enhance her practice in KZN.

“The focus of the mentorship programme was paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus (squints). While Dr Du Bruyn’s mentorship is similar to an apprenticeship, yet not a formal course or certification, she was exposed to the day-to-day happenings at the eye clinic and eye theatre,” the NGO said.

Du Bruyn said a paediatric clinic at Inkosi Albert Luthuli was only run once a week, whereas at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital a clinic was run daily.

“This means I was exposed to many more cases and had the ability to learn intensively. Since I have only worked in South Africa it was hugely valuable to learn from experienced paediatric ophthalmologists and gain a different perspective.”

Du Bruyn praised Orbis for its work in the province.

“The provision of prosthesis, equipment, training and other vital requirements makes our environment that much better so as to provide the best care for our patients.

“It is a very good partnership and shows how much of an impact a public-private partnership can have on the healthcare system.”

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