Eye treatment trip to Goroka aborted

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Report and picture by ZACHERY PER

FEARS of election-related violence in Goroka have forced 20 partially blind Engans to abort a trip to the Eastern Highlands capital for their vital eye operations.
Programme coordinator of the Enga Special Education Centre, Paul Ira, said in Goroka yesterday that the group of elderly, short-sighted villagers decided to return home after arriving in Mt Hagen.
However, Mr Ira and colleague Danny Koya managed to bring an earlier batch of 12 to the eye clinic at the Goroka Base Hospital where their eye problems were fixed, allowing them to see properly again.
He said that 56 people from Enga, who had cataract, were recommended for special eye surgeries in Goroka to remove the cataracts.
Mr Ira said some could not make the trip because of the costs involved.
He said the 20 patients who turned back were from Kandep, living in Wabag, and those on the border of Wabag and Kandep.