By Winsley Masese

He that is stricken blind cannot forget the precious treasure of his lost sight" — Romeo’s words in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet are very telling.

They also speak vivvidly of a doctor who has restored sight to 10,000 blind patients and by extension, a normal life as well.

Dr Wanjiku Mathenge during the interview. She has restored sight to thousands of patients in Kenya and across the borders.

Dr Wanjiku Mathenge is that doctor, an ophthalmologist (eye specialist) who is devoted to making those who have lost their sight see again.

"Restoring a patient’s sight is dramatic. At one moment, he or she is blind, but a few hours after an operation, the patient can see clearly. Imagine how elated and grateful they are," says Mathenge.

She works for the Ministry of Health in Nakuru, but has also served as a volunteer in South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Namibia in her free time.

Mathenge was recognised by the British Council for Prevention of Blindness (BCPB) in 2006, when she was awarded the first ever Sir John Wilson Prevention of Blindness Fellowship, which has seen her pursue a PhD in ophthalmology. The objective is to equip her with skills in planning and implementing blindness prevention and treatment programs in Africa. She has taken a study leave to devote time and resources to her three-and-a-half year research.

"My research is on how diabetes, high blood pressure and glaucoma affect people’s eyesight," says Mathenge, who goes on to narrate one of the many highlights of her recent research work in Nakuru: A blind woman who had turned violent in the queue, yelling and causing a scene, was brought for examination, accompanied by her embarrassed husband.

She had been diagnosed with diabetes and gone into coma, spending two weeks in hospital. She recovered, but to their horror she woke up blind and went completely psychotic".

Mathenge learnt that the husband had exhausted his resources on medication and had no more money to treat the blindness or the psychosis.

So, using part of her fellowship fund to finance the treatment of the woman, she sent her to the hospital immediately for cataract surgery.

Next morning, as she was passing by the ward to see the patient, a beaming husband met her at the door and shouted "It is wonderful. My wife is back!’

Cataracts account for 43 per cent of all cases of blindness. Mathenge’s study is the first of its kind and quality in Africa, where the equipment and research techniques used match those in developed countries.

She acquired a second master’s degree in Community Eye Health at the International Centre Eye Health in London, in 2002, and graduated with a distinction. "The course was relevant to my work as I spend most of my time working with people at the community level," she says.

Dr Mathenge doing what she enjoys most at her work station in Nakuru. Mathenge’s PhD research is funded by the Sir John Wilson Prevention of Blindness Fellowship. She was the first ever recepient. Photo: Winsley Masese and Courtesy

Her postgraduate research was on Vitamin A deficiency in Nakuru Prisoners and its impact on the prisoners’ optical and general health.

She examined each prisoner at the Nakuru Prison. Vitamin A deficiency is known to causes blindness, and the diet in the prisons was keen on quantity, not quality. I advised them to substitute sukuma wiki or spinach for cabbage and use yellow maize in place of the white in cooking ugali.

"I am happy to note that they have implemented some of my recommendations," says Mathenge.

Nakuru District is the first to have carried out a full survey of blindness in the country, which Mathenge helped to conduct through the Nakuru Eye Unit. After her studies she hopes to help another government hospital set up an eye unit of the same standard.

"In Nakuru, we used a methodology that had never been used in blindness surveys anywhere in the world, but which since then has been adopted in several countries in the world," she adds.

Asked what drives her, Mathenge says: "My eldest child, 17, currently in her final year at the International School in Moshi, Tanzania, tells me I am one of her role models. This spurs me on. I cannot afford to blot my image. A lot of my inspiration came from my parents and my greatest wish is to inspire my children while allowing and enabling them to be whatever they want to be," she says, adding: "God has been so good to me and I thank Him every day of my life."

Mathenge evidently followed her father’s advice. She says: He usually reminded us that he has no property for us to inherit but that once we got an education, we could create wealth for ourselves.

Mathenge is confident that Kenyan ophthalmologists have the potential to be innovative and come up with new ways of tackling blindness despite limitations in the cost of ophthalmic technology.