Taiwan doctors help restore Eswatini teen's eyesight

Taipei, May 15 (CNA) A 15-year-old boy from Eswatini with severe vision impairment is set to return home Thursday with significantly improved eyesight after undergoing a series of eye surgeries in Taiwan over the past month, made possible by efforts from local doctors and broader public-private collaboration.

During a weeklong medical mission to Eswatini in mid-February, Sun Chi-chin (孫啟欽), an attending ophthalmologist at Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH), met a local teenager nicknamed Hsiao Ching (小清), whose uncorrected vision of just 0.1 left him unable to see distant objects clearly or read the blackboard.

"I saw something white in his left eye and thought there might be something we could do," Sun recalled at a press conference in Taipei on Thursday morning, describing his first impression of the Swazi orphan as "very introverted, with his head always down."

Since the age of 9, Hsiao has been under the care of the Swazi branch of the Amitofo Care Center -- a Buddhist NGO founded by Taiwanese monk Venerable Hui-Li, with facilities in several African countries -- which invited Sun to visit during one day of his solo volunteer mission to the African country.

Eswatini is one of only 12 states that maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's official name, and the only one in Africa.

With the financial support of a Taiwanese company and assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arrangements were made for Hsiao to travel to Taiwan in early April for treatment, Sun said, noting eye surgeries are rarely performed in Eswatini due to limited medical resources.

While further examinations in Taiwan revealed that Hsiao had previously undergone intraocular lens implantation in both eyes, his right eye was still affected by hyperopia and severe astigmatism, and his left eye had developed severe iridocorneal adhesions and posterior capsule opacity, Sun said.

"Over time, the child could develop glaucoma and corneal swelling, which might eventually lead to complete loss of vision," Sun added.

To restore his vision, Sun and fellow ophthalmologist Yang Ling (楊嶺) performed a series of surgeries on Hsiao at Keelung CGMH, including intraocular lens replacement and trans pars plana vitrectomy -- a procedure to remove the vitreous gel -- on the left eye, Sun said.

For the right eye, photorefractive keratectomy, a type of laser eye surgery to correct vision, was performed, he added.

Those surgeries, fully covered by the hospital, significantly improved Hsiao's uncorrected vision, which now ranges from 0.5 to 0.7 in both eyes, allowing him to see the blackboard clearly and interact with others more confidently, Sun said.

Asked how he felt before the surgeries, Hsiao told CNA that he experienced pain in both eyes and therefore "did not do anything."

After the procedures, he said he can now do "many things" thanks to his improved vision, such as singing and dancing, adding that one of his goals is to become a doctor in the future.

Having spent about six weeks in Taiwan for treatment and recovery, Hsiao -- whose successful case has been described by the hospital as a symbol of the "solid achievements of Taiwan's medical collaboration with Africa" -- is set to return home on Thursday evening.