Travel report 2019

In spring 2019, Alex Heuberger, MD, and his motivated team traveled to Mexico for the 19th time. As every year, the logistics were a challenge. The daily routine of the surgical team also proceeds somewhat differently than here in Switzerland. But also this year, a total of 369 adults and children got their sight back.

In spring 2019, Alex Heuberger, MD, and his motivated team traveled to Mexico for the 19th time. He was accompanied by Dr. Geno Sarra, Dr. Hannes Schwarz, Dr. Karla Chaloupka, bioengineer Monika Heuberger, and the two surgical nurses Ania Willmeroth and Elena Menchevaer. Local physicians, OR nurses, technicians, coordinators and many other energetic helpers also supported the Swiss team with great enthusiasm.

As every year, the logistics were a challenge: microscopes, surgical equipment and several suitcases with medicines had to be transported to Mexico. Andrea Born from Switzerland and Norma Aragon from Mexico did a remarkable job. The undertaking is planned and organized the whole year before.

The daily routine of the surgical team is a bit different than here in Switzerland. An ophthalmologist quickly becomes an assistant technician when the control unit on the microscope is defective. Or the doctor is temporarily incapacitated by an infection from an insect bite and becomes a patient himself. Working conditions in Mexico are also often different from those in Switzerland. In order to be able to help as many people as possible, work was done simultaneously on four operating tables in one operating room.

Every year, our commitment in Mexico attracts renewed attention on the ground. So a visit from journalists or the governor’s wife offers a few minutes’ break in the meticulously planned day.

The constant media hype in Mexico is based, among other things, on the continuity that has developed over 19 years, the sustainability with the construction of hospitals, the supply of equipment and the training of local doctors, as well as the annual operations of hundreds of people. Also this year, a total of 369 adults and children received their sight back: 149 eye operations were performed in Tuxtepec and 220 in Oaxaca. For poor people in Mexico, this help not only means a new quality of life, but also gives them a new hope – for social inclusion and a job.

The young patient does not seem to be afraid of the operation.