Guyana Mission To Save Sight
Written by Dr. Murtaza Adam, MD- Retinal Specialist
Guyana is a small, developing Caribbean nation on the northern coast of South America, nestled between Suriname to the east and Venezuela to the West. I learned this when I was first connected to Dr. Arlene Bobb-Semple on the International Retina Consultants of America, Retina Tele-Mentorship WhatsApp chain started by Ben Thomas, MD (Florida Retina Institute). Dr. Bobb-Semple is Guyana’s only practicing vitreoretinal surgeon, I embarrassingly had to “Google” Guyana to find out exactly where it was located. After a year and a half of text correspondence regarding difficult medical and surgical retina cases, I traveled to Guyana for 1 week to surgically mentor Dr. Bobb-Semple. RCA leadership has been nothing but supportive of this work by me and others in the Tele-Mentorship group (Drs. Dante Pieramici, Gary Lane, Chris Henry, and of course, Ben Thomas).
Dr. Bobb-Semple is an incredible person and physician. She has persevered incredibly to attain her level of training, uprooting her life in Guyana to travel to Uganda and Tanzania for residency and fellowship. She returned home to Guyana right before the Covid-19 pandemic, which upended and delayed her plans to start the first retina service in Guyana. Her mantra of “we work with what we have”, has stuck with me in the time that has passed since I first stepped into the operating room at Georgetown Public Hospital. Unfortunately, like many public health services in Guyana, the Department of Ophthalmology is severely underfunded and relies heavily on donations and reuse of disposable equipment to care for the many blind patients who wait months, and sometimes years, for care in the free public system.
Using a previously donated diplopic microscope, a donated vitrectomy machine in need of servicing, and 2 suitcases of instruments that I brought from Colorado, we tackled advanced diabetic TRDs, chronic retinal detachments with PVR, macular holes, and complex IOL cases. We worked through adversity by bending (but not breaking) straight non-illuminated laser probes for phakic eyes, cutting light pipes to create chandeliers, and using cigarette lighters to heat diathermy probes. With Dr. Bobb-Semple’s mantra in mind, we worked with what we had. Awareness of my privilege as a US-trained surgeon extended beyond underappreciating the relatively unlimited resources we have in the US, but also applied to the quality of our training programs. Dr. Bobb-Semple’s hands were excellent, but her 1-year international vitreoretinal fellowship training did not provide the experience and knowledge required to feel comfortable in the vitreoretinal OR, especially with the degree of pathology she sees on a daily basis. She strives to improve in any way she can and has plans for additional surgical mentors to visit from Europe and the US Military coming later this year. Her drive to become a more skilled and confident vitreoretinal surgeon for the benefit of her patients is unquestionable, and I am grateful to be part of her journey.
I plan to return to Guyana in a year, while continuing to mentor her virtually in the interim. With the support of RCA and leadership from Ben Thomas, MD, we have so much potential to collectively leverage our skills and passion to sustainably make an impact on the burden of blindness across the globe.
