Posters

Are cataract patients willing to pay for the surgery in developing countries?

Poster Details

First Author: I. Signes-Soler SPAIN

Co Author(s):    J. Javaloy   G. Munoz   R. Montes-Mico   R. Montalban   T. Moya        

Abstract Details

Purpose:

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in developing countries. It has been said that providing free surgery may be underappreciated by the patients, but little is known regarding candidates´ willingness to pay for surgery in West Africa. We study the opinion of the patients who were charged a small amount for the cataract surgery in a massive cataract campaign in Burkina Faso and we correlate it with their postoperative satisfaction 3 months after the intervention.

Setting:

Bobo Diulasso (Burkina Faso)

Methods:

All the patients who received cataract surgery in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) during a blindness prevention campaign were included in the study. A vision related quality of life questionnaire based in the WHO Prevention of Blindness and Deafness Visual Function 20 (WHO/PBD VF20) was applied to the patients three months after surgery. The patients paid 15.000 FCFA (23€), which included the surgery, the post-surgery medication and protection sunglasses

Results:

A total of 305 patients (56.1% male) underwent cataract extraction. Mean age was 61.97 ± 14.39 years. The majority of eyes (88.70%) had poor visual acuity (CDVA<20/200, logMAR: 1.0) preoperatively which improved to 0.4±0.27 LogMAR (20/50) 3 months after cataract surgery. At 3rd month 193 (61,3%) patients come for the follow up, of them 91,67% did find the price not expensive, 2,09% expensive and 3,64% affordable. When asked for their incomes, 49.4% has a monthly income less than 15.000 FCFAS (23€) and 11,3% had no income or lived on charity. There was no significant relation between BCVA after surgery, income, global index of satisfaction and their opinions about the price of the surgery

Conclusions:

Wealth (or income) could not be related with willingnes to pay in Burkina Faso. The willingness to pay may increase by offering high quality service with a uniform and clear pricing.

Financial Disclosure:

NONE