New Sight Eye Care Limited
Mission: According to the World Health Organisation, 2.2 billion people worldwide have a vision impairment and 1 billion of those have a condition which could have been prevented or treated. New Sight has a vision for a world where no one is needlessly blind. The Hong Kong registered charity was founded by husband-and-wife team Henri and Joyce Samoutou. Henri is a Senior Ophthalmic Technician with Surgical Skills and Joyce is a UK qualified Family Doctor. Together, they use their medical skills as a vehicle to bring hope to the blind and their loved ones in the Republic of Congo.
Beneficiaries: Medical Conditions, Families and Community
Top needs:
• Funding to complete both Phase 1A and 1B of the teaching hospital.
• Expatriates to serve in Congo for at least 6 months.
• Volunteers with book-keeping / accounting skills.
• Volunteers with good French/English writing skills
Top 3 challenges:
• The COVID-19 pandemic has of course created many challenges. Fortunately, our eye clinic is now open and able to see patients under strict safety standards.
• The next step forward for our charity will be constructing a purpose-built eye teaching hospital in Ouesso which will serve Congo and the surrounding nations. We hope to begin construction in 2021.
• Congo has an extreme shortage of medical personnel. We have taken a group of local young people and, over the last year, begun training them to be some of the future nursing and support staff for our hospital.
Impact on beneficiaries:
At our clinic in Ouesso we help about 200 patients a month, treating patients with non-surgical conditions and eye injuries. Patients travel from all over the country and without our clinic most would have continued to suffer and to see their sight deteriorate.
