Cuban-Venezuelan free eye surgery program now in Antigua and Barbuda

Created in 2004 by Cuba´s Fidel Castro and Venezuela´s Hugo Chavez, the free eye surgery program known as Operation Miracle, designed to treat low-income patients, is now benefiting the citizens of Antigua and Barbuda.

The program, which has returned the sight to over three million people in 34 nations, is now being implemented in the Caribbean nation by a group of Venezuelan doctors, anesthesiologists, nurses and other specialists who expect to administer surgeries on 347 patients suffering from cataracts over the next six weeks, The Antigua Observer daily reported, from the capital Saint Johns.

Another six medical teams from Venezuela will arrive in Antigua and Barbuda later this month to join the project, which expects to assist153 more citizens with other eye conditions.

The treatment will be administered following a previous mission that screened the cases earlier this year.

The Operation Miracle program began by offering patients specialized attention in Havana and Venezuela, and later set up facilities in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.