Close to 300 people had their sight-restored during a surgical outreach in Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea, earlier this year.
In just three weeks, our local eye care team carried out 2,396 eye care consultations, performed 292 sight-restoring surgeries and dispensed 478 pairs of glasses. The vast majority of these operations were for cataract. This was one of the highest-volume outreaches we’ve supported so far in 2025.
With support from the Digicel Foundation and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and working in collaboration with the Simbu Provincial Health Authority (SiPHA), the outreach brought much-needed eye care to communities across the region, many of whom face long travel distances, high costs, and limited access to specialist eye care services.
Most patients were over the age of 50 and, for many, this was their first chance to receive professional eye care – a clear sign of the unmet need for eye care services across the Highlands.
The outreach began with a week of health promotion and screening, designed to raise awareness and make services easier to reach. Teams travelled across five of Simbu Province’s six districts, raising awareness so people knew when the eye team would be onsite and what support was available, and conducting screening tests so patients could be pre-booked for surgery. Bringing services direct to communities is especially important for women and people living with disabilities, who are often most affected by travel distance, cost, and safety concerns.
Local partners helped transport patients from remote areas, while the Catholic Diocese provided accommodation so patients and their guardians did not have to travel long distances back and forth each day.
During surgical week, at Sir Joseph Nombri Hospital in Kundiawa, demand was so high that the team set up three separate stations across the hospital grounds to manage the flow of patients. This allowed the team to safely and efficiently see as many people as possible.
Among the many people who came for help was Paulus, a 55-year-old man from Jiwaka who had lost his sight to bilateral cataracts. Paulus arrived in a wheelchair, supported by his nephews, Simon and Jonathan, who travelled across provincial borders to bring him to the outreach after hearing that the eye team would be at in Kundiawa.
At the outreach, Paulus was diagnosed and booked for surgery on both eyes. When his bandages were removed, Paulus was overjoyed. He could see the faces of his family and the outreach staff around him, a moment he described as the return of hope. He is now looking forward to going home to Jiwaka, seeing his sister again, and reconnecting with the reading and writing he loves.
A key focus of the outreach was building the skills of PNG’s eye care workforce. Dr Lissing Hames, who is currently studying towards her Master of Medicine, joined the outreach for her second major training placement. Under the guidance of the senior eye doctors, Dr David Pahau and Dr Waimbe Wahamu, she gained valuable surgical and clinical experience in a high-demand setting.
Eye nurses from around the Highlands region also took part in hands-on training through our Workforce Support programme. This ongoing support is essential for frontline health workers, many of whom are the only eye care providers in their communities.
This outreach was made possible through the generous support of the Digicel Foundation and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the strong cooperation of SiPHA, local health centres, the Catholic Diocese, and our partners across the Highlands. Their combined efforts ensured that people who have waited years for eye care were finally able to receive the help they needed.
Just as importantly, the training delivered throughout the outreach will continue to ripple outward — equipping eye nurses, clinicians, and trainee eye doctors with the skills and confidence to provide quality eye care long after the team has left Simbu.
