Major first in Mauritania: cornea transplant.
They took place at the Bouamatou Foundation hospital from 9 to 16 January 2005.
Due to intense sunlight, the most destitute in desert regions are often struck by cataracts and become blind for lack of care. Alerted to this problem during a pleasure trip to the south of Tunisia, Jules Gazon, emeritus professor of economics at the University of Liège, created the association Médecins du désert in 2002. He received the support of Stéphane Georges, then governor of the Lions district 112D, and was joined in 2003 by Pierre Rizzo, general practitioner.
The cataract operation, which consists of replacing the opaque lens with an artificial one, is a remarkable procedure that restores sight within days. Until now, this was the operation that Médecins du désert focused on because it contributes to the eradication of blindness affecting the poor population of many countries near the desert as well as sub-Saharan Africa.
With the support of Anne Lange, Wallonia-Brussels delegate in Tunis, in 2002, 2003, and 2004, a team of ophthalmic surgeons: Doctors Bernard Duchesne, Marie-Astrid Debry, Céline La, and Fabrice Korczweski from the University Hospital of Liège, along with Doctors Pierre Sempoux (CHR of Namur and St Luc Brussels) and his assistant Boris Dethine, accompanied by Doctor Caroline Dutrieux (Independent), traveled to the Tunisian Sahara, to the hospital of Kébili, to perform a total of 220 cataract operations over three missions.
In 2004, two surgeons from the University Hospital of Liège, Doctors Bernard Duchesne and Céline La also performed cataract and pterygium operations in Mauritania at the Bouamatou Foundation in Nouakchott, that is, 73 operations in total. In January 2005, Bernard Duchesne performed eight cornea transplants assisted by six Mauritanian surgeons to whom he passed on his knowledge and skills. The grafts came from deceased Belgians. This was a first in sub-Saharan Africa. This cornea transplantation created strong emotions.
