Cataract surgery myth drives winter surge, but doctors say any season is safe

Daltonganj, December 30: Health myths can seriously impact lives, and one common misconception revolves around cataract surgery.

Cataract surgery goes up ten fold high in winter. It is quite low in summer. No surgery is dependent on the weather. Surgery is when it is needed. It can’t be put off just because of the position of the Sun.

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Patients Flock to Prakash Eye Care

The Jharkhand Story Network correspondent visited a state-of-the-art eye hospital named Prakash Eye Care at Rehla, some 30-plus kilometres away from Daltonganj.

It was getting evening when the Jharkhand Story Network correspondent visited this Prakash Eye Care hospital on Monday.

A good many patients were there waiting for their turn. This correspondent met a middle-aged male patient who said he is from Garhwa district’s Kandee block.

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This Kandee patient said his “motiya bind pak gaya hai (Cataract has matured). He was all praise for the eye surgeon Dr Prakash Parimal. He said he would get treatment at fair price.

But what this Kandee patient said was an eye-opener. He said, “I heard the doctor asking a parent to disallow his child to remain glued to the cell phone. I also heard the doctor asking the parent to sit less and less in front of the TV set.”

Patient-Friendly Approach

The Prakash Eye Care hospital has a dedicated team of staff where female staff invariably address any 55 or 60-plus woman as Dadi. Such an address makes the patient feel at home. Cataract-suffering patients are mostly in the upper age group.

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There is one thing more about this hospital, when the officer in charge of the Rehla police station Gulshan Birua told “The doctor in chief Dr Prakash Parimal is quite patient-friendly. His hospital is a relief to the rich and the poor alike.”

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Referral Practices and Professional Dynamics

This correspondent had the opportunity to speak to a couple of eye doctors in Daltonganj.

Once these eye doctors were asked by this correspondent as to whether they refer their critical cases to Prakash Eye Care Hospital at Rehla to which the eye doctors said without any hitch, “We refer our critical cases to Ranchi.”

Why Ranchi? Why not Rehla? No one answered. But one doesn’t need an extra mind to understand this silence at Rehla’s Prakash Eye Care hospital.

A kind of professional envy can’t be ruled out here in the admittance of referring a patient to Ranchi as a detour of the town Daltonganj will make anyone’s eyes meet X or Y or Z doctor’s board. Tall claims. Big words. But no mention of the cost of treatment!

Winter Convenience vs. Medical Necessity

Dr Prakash Parimal talking to this correspondent said, “There is nothing to panic if cataract has set in. A timely surgical intervention should not be given a miss.”

Dr Prakash Parimal was examining a Muslim lady patient who was diagnosed right eye cataract. The doctor reminded that it was some months ago that this lady patient was advised cataract surgery, but she like others was most bothered about the summer and sweating.

Illiterate or literate, educated or left thumb impression men or women have in their consciousness of going for cataract surgery only in the winter.

Why winter is the preferred month for cataract surgery?

The homely truth is that winter time is more indoor time. Sweating is back seated and as such irritation of eye ball is negligible. Environmental risks are minimal in winter. Baths post cataract surgery need special care. Winter reduces the craving for bath.

However, doctors’ sincere advice is “Jara ho ya garmee har mousam swasthya k upchaar K liay hai (Cold or summer, every season is a treat for health).

The government MMCH Daltonganj, when it conducts cataract surgery, speaks about it too loudly, the occasion is very few in any month of the calendar.