Cataract Chronicles-25 years
As I celebrate my 25th year volunteering as an eye surgeon in Southeast Asia. I am delighted to share photos and stories about the vision challenges and the people and cultures of India, Nepal, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. - Dr. Gary Barth
Chronicle 21 - Uphill battle to Acquire Eye Surgery training for Cambodians
With the coordination of Seva Foundation’s medical director, my wife and I volunteered in Cambodia. At that time, fewer than a dozen eye surgeons were working in the whole country. I was very privileged to share surgery with Dr. Heng Ton, pictured here, an excellent cataract surgeon.
His desire to do surgery included a daunting training experience:
#1. He was separated from his father during the murderous regime of the Khmer Rouge. No schooling was available and he, his mother, and siblings hid to save their lives.
#2. At age 14, when the family could reunite after the war ended, he restarted schooling and was smart enough to pass a national test to get him into the Cambodian medical school in Phnom Penh.
All of the textbooks were in French. Cambodia had been part of the French Indochina colony system before the communist Khmer Rouge taking over the country (1975-1979). They had banned the study of “colonial languages” (French and English), so he had never studied either of these Western languages. He had to attend medical school and read textbooks in a language he didn't understand.
#3. After graduating from medical school, he wanted to obtain eye surgery training. Seva Foundation helped him with a three-year surgical residency in Nepal. CR Cataract Chronicle 319. The training in Nepal was entirely in English, another “colonial language,” which he had to learn while training for eye surgery.
#4. He left his family for three years with one trip home from Nepal yearly.
In short, he is a dedicated and valuable surgeon who had to persist through numerous challenges to become an asset to his country.
