Thousands of elderly people across Trinidad and Tobago are living with preventable blindness caused by cataracts, according to Trinidad-born physician Dr Reynold Agard, who says many patients continue to suffer because they cannot afford treatment or access surgery quickly enough.

Speaking by telephone with the Sunday Express on Friday, Agard said many patients are elderly people who have spent years gradually losing their vision because of age-related cataracts worsened by diabetes, unhealthy diets, and prolonged exposure to sunlight.

Agard is in Trinidad for a four-day cataract surgery mission organised by HANDS International at the Community Hospital of Seventh-day Adventists, Cocorite.