Under Health Minister Anil Kumar Bachoo, Mauritius is combining prevention, specialist collaboration, workforce development and modern treatment to strengthen eye care — an approach closely aligned with World Health Organization priorities for the African Region.
Mauritius is strengthening its response to glaucoma through a strategy that goes beyond treating patients after their eyesight has already deteriorated. By combining early detection, access to specialist expertise, introduction of modern treatment techniques and, critically, the training of Mauritian healthcare professionals, the country is building greater long-term capacity to prevent avoidable vision loss.
The approach is being advanced under the leadership of Hon. Anil Kumar Bachoo, Minister of Health and Wellness, whose Ministry has placed prevention and patient-centred healthcare among its priorities. Official Ministry reporting describes Mauritius's preventive health strategy as resting on three pillars: early detection, public engagement and policy-driven action.
The emerging glaucoma programme provides a concrete example of how those principles can translate into healthcare delivery.
From screening to a broader strategy
On 13 December 2025, the Ministry of Health and Wellness organised a glaucoma screening programme at SAJ Hospital in Flacq as part of its efforts to encourage earlier identification of eye disease.
The programme brought to Mauritius two internationally based ophthalmologists: Professor Patrick Yu-Wai-Man, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Cambridge and Consultant Ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr Cynthia Yu-Wai-Man, an ophthalmic surgeon and glaucoma specialist associated with King's College London.
Their involvement was not limited to examining patients.
The programme also incorporated the training of doctors and nurses, helping Mauritian healthcare professionals strengthen their capacity to diagnose and manage glaucoma locally. Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty, a laser treatment used in glaucoma management, was also available at the new Subramania Bharati Eye Hospital.
This combination is important because glaucoma can develop with few or no noticeable symptoms during its early stages. Once damage to the optic nerve has resulted in lost vision, that loss cannot currently be reversed. Early identification therefore has the potential to change the course of the disease by allowing treatment before severe and irreversible visual impairment develops.
Eight months later, evidence of practical progress
By August 2026, the collaboration had moved beyond an isolated screening event.
During the week of 10–16 August, Dr Cynthia Yu-Wai-Man reported that approximately 100 patients had been examined in Mauritius. The mission included consultations, surgical procedures for patients with severe glaucoma and several training sessions involving local healthcare professionals.
An especially important component was the transfer of clinical expertise.
Mauritian doctors received training in laser treatment and newer glaucoma surgical techniques with the intention that these procedures should eventually be performed locally without depending continuously on visiting foreign specialists.
That distinction matters.
Bringing an international specialist to Mauritius can help dozens or hundreds of patients during a mission. Training local specialists can potentially benefit patients for years afterwards.
Dr Yu-Wai-Man specifically described the objective of enabling a Mauritian doctor who had received training to continue developing the new glaucoma surgical capability locally. Such skills transfer can reduce dependence on overseas treatment while progressively expanding access for Mauritian patients.
For a small island state, this represents an important health-system principle: international expertise should not merely be imported temporarily; it should be used to build sustainable domestic expertise.
Bringing advanced glaucoma treatment closer to Mauritian patients
The August mission also supported the introduction of the PreserFlo MicroShunt, a glaucoma implant that had not previously been available in Mauritius.
Dr Yu-Wai-Man said that ten implants had been brought to Mauritius with the support of the Ministry of Health and Swiss Medical Services. The device is designed to create an alternative drainage pathway for fluid inside the eye, thereby reducing intraocular pressure in appropriate glaucoma patients.
Ten implants cannot by themselves transform glaucoma care nationwide. Their greater significance lies in what their introduction represents: Mauritius is beginning to develop local experience with treatment options that previously required patients to seek specialised care elsewhere.
This is particularly relevant for patients unable to travel abroad because of financial, medical or personal circumstances.
The Government has also confirmed broader discussions involving Professor Patrick Yu-Wai-Man and Dr Cynthia Yu-Wai-Man on new screening programmes for glaucoma and diabetes-related eye disease, international collaboration and the possible use of artificial intelligence to support earlier detection.
Dr Yu-Wai-Man has explained that AI could eventually assist large-scale screening by analysing commonly used ophthalmic investigations including visual-field tests, optical coherence tomography scans and retinal photographs. Discussions on international collaboration have included expertise from countries such as Singapore and China.
A strategic emphasis on prevention
The importance of Minister Bachoo's policy direction becomes clearer when glaucoma is viewed not simply as an ophthalmology problem but as a preventive-health challenge.
Waiting for symptoms is particularly dangerous in glaucoma because significant damage can occur before the patient becomes aware of a problem.
Dr Yu-Wai-Man has therefore recommended that Mauritians have their intraocular pressure checked from around the age of 40, and earlier where there is a family history of glaucoma.
A health system that moves resources towards screening, earlier diagnosis and risk identification can intervene before patients reach the much more difficult stage of advanced disease.
That philosophy corresponds directly with the Ministry's stated emphasis on early detection and preventive healthcare under Minister Bachoo.
The infrastructure supporting the strategy has also expanded. The Subramania Bharati Eye Hospital relocated to its new facility at Réduit Triangle, Moka, in November 2025, while Government procurement records show continued investment in ophthalmology equipment, including a digital fundus camera for the new eye hospital.
Together, these developments illustrate a model in which infrastructure, technology, international expertise and human-resource development are being connected rather than pursued separately.
Why the Mauritius experience matters in Africa
The Mauritian initiative also has relevance beyond the country's shores.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa identifies glaucoma among the major eye diseases affecting the African Region and warns that noncommunicable, age-related eye conditions — including glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy — are becoming increasingly important.
WHO has also highlighted continuing shortages of eye-care personnel, uneven access to services and insufficient public awareness in many African countries.
This makes capacity building especially important.
WHO's strategy for eye health calls for integrated, people-centred eye care, meaning that countries should strengthen the health system itself instead of addressing eye diseases through isolated interventions. Eye care should form part of universal health coverage and include prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, an appropriately trained workforce and community engagement.
Mauritius's developing glaucoma response reflects several of these principles simultaneously:
• screening people before irreversible disease develops;
• expanding access to modern diagnostic and therapeutic technology;
• bringing specialised international expertise into the public health system;
• training Mauritian doctors and nurses rather than creating permanent dependence on foreign missions;
• introducing treatment locally that could otherwise require overseas care; and
• exploring artificial intelligence as a future tool for population-level screening.
The importance of this direction is reinforced by WHO's assessment that African health systems need innovative interventions, stronger community engagement and greater integration of eye care within healthcare services.
Building capability, not simply treating cases
The most consequential aspect of the initiative may therefore be what happens after the international specialists leave Mauritius.
A hundred consultations are valuable. Ten advanced implants can change the lives of selected patients. Several successful operations are important.
But a Mauritian ophthalmologist trained to perform a new procedure can potentially treat patients repeatedly. Nurses and doctors trained to recognise glaucoma can improve detection. Modern equipment coupled with appropriately trained staff can increase diagnostic capability. And an organised screening programme can identify patients before vision is irreversibly lost.
That is the difference between a medical mission and health-system strengthening.
Under Minister Anil Kumar Bachoo's tenure, the Ministry's decision to combine screening with specialised treatment and professional training demonstrates an approach centred not only on today's patients, but also on developing tomorrow's healthcare capacity.
The strategy also fits within the wider direction of Mauritius's health policy. During a January 2026 official visit, WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi commended Mauritius's efforts to consolidate its healthcare system and reaffirmed WHO's support for the country's efforts to build a healthier and more resilient system. Minister Bachoo participated in those discussions.
A small state with an opportunity to demonstrate scalable health policy
Mauritius cannot simply be compared with the largest health systems in Africa. Its population size, geography and resources are different.
But small states can demonstrate something equally important: the ability to connect policy decisions, specialised infrastructure, international partnerships and local capacity development within a manageable health system.
The glaucoma initiative is still developing, and its long-term impact will ultimately need to be measured through evidence — including the number of people screened, glaucoma detected at earlier stages, treatment outcomes, waiting times, local surgical capacity and reductions in avoidable visual impairment.
Those indicators will determine its ultimate success.
Nevertheless, the direction is significant.
Instead of treating overseas expertise as a temporary solution, Mauritius is using collaboration to develop local skills. Instead of concentrating exclusively on advanced disease, the health system is increasing attention to prevention and screening. Instead of seeing new technology as an end in itself, the strategy is increasingly connecting equipment with clinical training and patient access.
For Minister Bachoo and the Ministry of Health and Wellness, that represents an important evolution of public healthcare policy: detect earlier, build expertise locally, introduce appropriate innovation and make specialised care increasingly accessible within Mauritius itself.
For Mauritian patients, the potential benefit is straightforward but profound — protecting sight before it is lost and providing more advanced care closer to home.
And for the wider African health community, Mauritius's experience could provide a useful example of how a country can translate the principles advocated by WHO — prevention, integrated care, workforce development and equitable access — into practical national action.
