One of the definitive signs of Jesus’ ministry was His restoring sight to the blind. “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,” Isaiah 35:5. There are 8 specific blind people who are recorded in the Gospels as being given sight again, and another couple of occasions when we are told that Jesus healed an unspecified number of blind people. Of all the other recorded miracles by God’s servants in the Old and New Testaments, there is no record of the healing of the blind – with the unique exception of Ananias restoring Saul of Tarsus’s sight after his experience on the Damascus Road.
It is clear from this that Jesus has great compassion for the blind.
The Good News Hospital has been concerned for the restoration of sight to the blind where it is possible. Thousands of blind people have received their sight once again through the removal of their cataracts. It is so thrilling to see folk arriving at the hospital, walking gingerly and led by a relative, then walking unaided and confidently a few days later. What laughter, what happiness and what praise to our God we have experienced!
Dr Hanitra has been the hospital eye surgeon for 20 years. Now she has reached retirement age. We are grateful that she plans to stay on at the Good News Hospital for a few more years, but it is time to think of training a new younger eye surgeon. We asked Dr Hanitra to tell us a little of her life history and this is what she said:
I was born in Antananarivo, the 5th of 10 children born to my parents. My father was a teacher and my mother a housewife. We are from the Betsileo tribe and originally from Ambositra.
My eldest brother was the first in our family to receive Jesus in his heart, and he then shared the gospel with all of us in the family. That is how I came to know the Lord, and I thank God that all my brothers and sisters were converted.
When I was in High School, medicine was not in my plan for the future. But one day my mother was very ill. We called the doctor but he said he could not come to our house. So my big brother carried my mother on his back to the doctor. At that moment I decided that I would become a doctor so that I could help those who were ill, even if they were poor or in difficulty.
When I was still a medical student I heard that the Association of Baptist Churches were planning a hospital. In 1995 I was on holiday and visiting my brother in Port Bergé and had the opportunity to visit Mandritsara. The hospital construction was right at the beginning and a small outpatient clinic was running. I met the missionaries and we talked together about the future need for doctors. I was very interested in the idea of working in a Christian hospital. So when I finished my studies, I sent in my application to join this missionary project. And, lo and behold, my application was accepted.
So, in April 1996 I started as a general doctor at the Good News Hospital. At that time I was really interested in paediatrics and I spent a little time of training with a British paediatrician in Zimbabwe. But then the need arose for an eye surgeon (Ophthalmic Medical Officer) at the Good News Hospital and I was asked if I would be interested in MASO (EYES). At first I hesitated, but when I thought about the eye problems in the district, I was very happy to train in cataract surgery.
An American professor of ophthalmology, Dr Paul Steinkuller, who was working in Madagascar with CBM (Christian Blind Mission), came to Mandritsara for a year in 2003 to train me. From the beginning I loved the training, and the more I saw the patients with their eye problems, the more I was motivated to help them. For my training year, Lions Sight First Madagascar subsidised the cost of cataract operations, so I had plenty of patients for clinical and surgical learning.
The Good News Hospital is the only hospital in the Sofia region with an ophthalmology service (Sofia region is made up or 7 districts of which Mandritsara is one. The area of Sofia is 5 times as big as Mandritsara and has a population of one and a half million people). Occasionally there are ophthalmologists who visit the other districts, but Mandritsara has the only resident eye surgeon.
The wonderful thing for the patients who come to the Good News Hospital is that not only can their physical problems be dealt with, but at the same time they and their relatives can hear the good news of Jesus and His love.
Three times a year, our little eye team of 3 workers (myself, Edmond who is our refractionist – testing for and fitting glasses, and Didier who assists in theatre and in out-patients) visits the towns of Mananara, on the east coast, and Bealanana, to the north of Mandritsara to see patients and operate on those with cataracts. MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) takes us to Mananara which is 70 miles by air, but a thousand miles by road because there is no road though the rain forest. Helimission takes us to Bealanana which is 100 miles by air or 200 miles by road.
We operate on around 500 cataracts each year, as well as seeing glaucoma, corneal ulcers, refractive errors needing glasses, eye trauma and various other eye diseases.
I am now officially retired, but God continues to give me strength and I hope to work here for several more years. But this is the time when we are seeking my replacement. There is a two year training programme here in Madagascar if we could find a young committed Christian Malagasy doctor whom God would call that we could send for this training.
Thank God for the wonderful opportunity at the Good News Hospital to help blind people in His Name, whilst bringing the Good News of Jesus and His salvation to them.
Pray that the Lord might raise up a young Christian doctor to be sent for training in ophthalmology.
Pray that the seed of the gospel which has been sown in Mananara and Bealanana over a number of years might bear much fruit. A small church has already started in Mananara.
Pray that the Lord would continue to give strength and skill to Dr Hanitra as she continues to serve Him.
Pray for funds to help those patients who cannot afford to pay for their treatment.