A young doctor with a great passion to make a difference in people’s lives

Early in his career, Dr Dominic McCall (Dom) was involved with the Foresight project in the Philippines.
“Working in developing countries is very rewarding but also very challenging as there is a big workload and lots of people who attend those clinics that need help. As a result, as a doctor you need to be very efficient although maintaining a high standard of care.”

Being one of our dedicated volunteer ophthalmologists, Dr Dominic McCall has been involved with Foresight for several years and has travelled to the Philippines for many surgical trips. He is now involved with training of the staff of the Aboriginal medical services in Griffith who are now including the eye screening in the routine check of Aboriginal people around the Western Murrumbidgee area.

What Dom likes most of the experience is the interaction with the patients, especially the children. He remembers a little boy who must have been 6 or 7 who was full of energy, “he was so much fun”. Sadly, during those surgical trips Dominic sees many of those children that due to their sight problems, are often unable to go to school and cannot benefit from the education that schools provide.
However, thanks to Dominic and all the other volunteers, these children are actually able to regain their sight and have a second chance in life.

The plan for the Indigenous project in the future?

Plans to organise another refresher course and then go and screen with them in remote areas of the Murrumbidgee later this year. Also, training more people, such as the local doctors and more registered nurses to upskill them in eye health. The ongoing visits will be part of the program moving forward, but Dom would like to increase those visits as there are more and more people needing help. Having more funding available will allow us to train more local staff and conduct more screening which is vital for early
detection of cataracts so that patients receive surgery as early as possible.