00:00Inside the operating theatre at Catherine Hospital, the surgeon focuses on another difficult cataract.
00:08This would be very, very hard compared to what you see down south.
00:11These patients have been brought to Catherine from remote communities across the Top End for a two-day cataract blitz.
00:17They tend to have more advanced cataracts, more visually significant cataracts,
00:23which have been there for some time and affecting their quality of life significantly.
00:29The Indigenous and Remote Eye Service is a federally funded program, bringing eye surgeons to the NT Outback in an attempt to tackle a backlog of cases.
00:38It recently cleared a two-year target of 800 eyes, with a further 800 to treat in the next two years.
00:46Some of our remote patients and Aboriginal patients going hunting has improved because they can see better now, the distances.
00:53Mildred has seen a big improvement after surgery.
00:56This eye, it was helpful. Nice eye can look.
01:00And she's excited about putting her new vision to the test back home in Nitpuru.
01:05It's good, nice. We go fishing or anything. Get paramundu. Long one. Turtle.
01:14Enjoy your vision.
01:16And a lot of patients will say, now, you know, people don't have to care for me.
01:20I can care for my grandchildren or I can see my grandchildren.
01:23Cataracts grow slowly, so many patients don't realise just how much sight they've lost.
01:28All of a sudden, that cloud has been lifted and they can see again.
01:31And it's a very emotional moment for a lot of patients who perhaps have had very severe vision impairment
01:37or have maybe even been legally blind to realise how much their life is going to change because of this.
01:42I can't believe how different it is and how bad my sight must have been.
01:49Transformational surgery. Closing the gap in eye health.
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