The first corneal transplant surgeries to take place in Newfoundland and Labrador in decades occurred this week in St. John’s and the surgeon who performed them is crediting VOCM Open Line for helping to make it happen.
Dr. Nour Nofal, whose husband is from the Goulds, is a Toronto-based ophthalmologist and corneal specialist who works part-time at the Jackman Eye Institute in St. John’s.
She performed corneal transplant surgeries at the Health Sciences on Monday, restoring the eyesight of four patients.
Dr. Nofal says prior to this week, local patients had to travel to Halifax or Toronto for the surgery, an ordeal that some patients were not willing to endure.
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“It is quite a big ordeal to travel out of province for this surgery, because you always have to be accompanied by someone.” The recovery requires that a patient lie on their back, “and we put a bubble in the eye, so you can’t fly back for up to two weeks after the surgery. So it can be a time commitment, a monetary commitment, and definitely when you get surgery you want to be closer to home for your recovery, so it was a big ask to ask someone to travel to Toronto or Halifax for the surgery.”
Dr. Nofal says having the surgery performed here is a significant milestone and she credits VOCM Open Line for getting the ball rolling.
“You guys played a big role in it,” says Dr. Nofal “by mentioning this on the radio in September. You talked about the difficulty to access care, the difficulty in traveling to get this transplant, and all the little things that come into play for health care access.” She says it was a year in the making and she thanks the Toronto Eye Bank for “generously supplying us with transplants” which she brings with her when she travels to Newfoundland.
