Recently we told you about Goskirk Pettinger supporting a global sight-saving charity. In April 2025 Dr Joel Somerville travelled to Madagascar to conduct screening for cataract surgery with Mercy Ships.
Mercy Ships is a global surgical charity that offers free of charge surgery to patients in under-served countries. Cataract and other types of eye surgery are carried out on board a ship but first the patients need to be carefully selected for surgery.
Madagascar is a large island off the East coast of Africa. About 7 times the size of Scotland. For the majority of people living in Madagascar, eye care is inaccessible due to distance or cost or other reasons. It is estimated there are 200'000 blind people in Madagascar due to cataract, which is a reversible condition solved with a straightforward surgery. That's 200'000 people who cannot work, care for their families or see their children. Watch Adama's story here:
Dr Somerville joined a small team in the capital, Antananarivo, ready to travel to different remote locations in the country to invite patients to come for cataract and general surgery screening. Our first stop was to fly in a small plane to the town of Maintirano on the East coast. We will let you know in the next post how they got on...
