The cost of restoring sight differs from country to country due to a number of varying factors. In some countries, we can restore sight for as little as $25.
This $25 covers the cost of the vital components of cataract surgery including the intraocular lens (IOL) and other consumables such as bandages, local anaesthetic and medications. This $25 does not incorporate the costs of the clinics, equipment or medical training of the doctors and nurses.
Medical treatment in countries like New Zealand is more expensive because it uses different techniques with more advanced and costly equipment. Therefore it’s impossible to compare with other countries whose medical systems are less developed or have limited health budgets. In the Pacific, a manual and more cost-effective technique is used that doesn’t require the expensive technology but achieves the same result.
Another way of looking at it is that in some of the countries where we work, people may be living on only a few dollars a day. The $25 it costs for an operation as a percentage of their yearly income can be quite similar to the approximately $4,000 it costs in New Zealand, where the average yearly income is around $62,000.
