Neil Murray
Medical Director
Dr Neil Murray joined The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ as medical director after a long-term involvement with ophthamology work in the developing world.
Throughout his 14 years working in Tauranga, Dr Murray regularly undertook short-term stints overseas.In 2006, he and his wife Tania headed to West Africa for a longer three-year mission. On their return to New Zealand, Dr Murray wanted to continue his involvement with developing countries, which motivated him to join the Fred Hollows Foundation NZ.
“I was impressed with what I had seen of FHFNZ - its developmental approach and its achievements, in particular, the Pacific Eye Institute and its vision to train sufficient Pacific Islanders to become self sufficient and manage their own eye care programmes,” he says.
Dr Murray says he trained as an ophthalmologist because he enjoyed working with eyes, but as his career progressed he wanted to give back and share his skills in parts of the world where there was little or no access to treatment for avoidable blindness.
In 1993, he took his first trip to the Sindh Province in Pakistan. At first, he felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem of preventable blindness and the absolute levels of poverty and subsistence living of most of the world - “but also by how effective – miraculous even – a cataract operation is in preventing blindness.”
Throughout his overseas work, he has been inspired by the unsung heroes – development organizations, expatriates and locals - all working to eradicate avoidable blindness.
“It is wonderful seeing the joy on the faces of people who can see again after surgery, and watching people you have helped to train putting it to good use.”
Nonetheless, it has not been without its challenges, he says. In particular, insufficient resources when people come for treatment, and navigating local and international aid politics to achieve enduring solutions to avoidable blindness.
During the three years Neil and his wife Tania lived in West Africa, they worked with CBM where, among other things, they helped develop blindness prevention programmes and establish an eye hospital in Lome, Togo in partnership with a nursing order of nuns.
