DOCUMENTED OPERATIONS & EVIDENCE
Dr. Rainald Duerksen: DRC operations, training and field model
A source-led overview of the work publicly documented around Dr. Rainald Duerksen, Fundación Visión DRC and partner organizations — from cataract surgery and surgical training to the realities of building sustainable eye care outside Kinshasa.
Latest documented surgical activity
Latest documented surgical activity
Fundación Visión reported that, with ChOSEN, 1,489 eye surgeries were performed in Kinshasa during the first half of 2026. The organization reported 619 cataract operations, including 378 phacoemulsification and 241 MSICS procedures, plus retina, glaucoma and TSPC procedures. These figures are organization-reported and should not be interpreted as independently audited national statistics. Fundación Visión update
A five-day cataract megacampaign
In a separate 2026 update, Fundación Visión reported 663 cataract operations in five days at the ChOSEN clinic in Kinshasa. The campaign was described as being locally coordinated by Dr. Rainald Duerksen and Dr. Moges with 14 visiting volunteers, using two operating rooms and six surgical tables.
Source 74 · Fundación Visión, 2026
Building a service in Bandundu / Kikwit
A 2026 interview with Dr. Duerksen describes the long-term work of establishing ophthalmic care in Bandundu. He reported an outpatient operating room with four tables in Kikwit, a local cataract surgeon who also teaches doctors, and practical constraints including unreliable electricity, transport costs, limited refraction/amblyopia services and the need to bring consumables from Kinshasa.
Global Vision 1/2026Paediatric cataract pathway
The same interview describes outreach through schools, churches and paediatric clinicians to identify children with visual impairment. At the time of the interview, paediatric anaesthesia was not available in Kikwit, so some children needing surgery under general anaesthesia had to travel to Vanga, approximately five hours away and with seasonal road-access difficulties.
DOMRADIO interviewTraining is part of the operating model
Dr. Duerksen’s career combines service delivery with workforce development. Fundación Visión’s Phaco Training Center in Paraguay uses theory, simulator practice, wet lab work and supervised surgery. ZEISS and CBM documented the center’s creation in 2018, while a 2020 peer-reviewed study co-authored by Duerksen examined the learning curve for residents performing MSICS. This training history is directly relevant to the DRC goal of strengthening local surgical capacity.
ZEISS / CBM training-centre reportWhat the DRC model is trying to solve
Public sources consistently point to the same system problem: specialist eye care is concentrated in major cities while many rural patients face distance, cost, information and infrastructure barriers. The emerging model combines outreach, screening, referral, surgery, follow-up, local training, partner support and plans for permanent/mobile infrastructure.
Fundación Visión RDCPublished research connected to Dr. Duerksen
Published research connected to Dr. Duerksen
Dr. Duerksen has co-authored peer-reviewed work on cataract blindness, cataract-surgery rates, barriers to cataract surgery and trends in visual impairment. The publications show a long-running focus on population eye health, access to surgery and training — not only individual clinical practice.
2003
Cataract blindness in Paraguay — results of a national surveyOphthalmic Epidemiology · Duerksen, Limburg, Carron, Foster
2010Cataract surgery rates in Latin America: a four-year longitudinal studyOphthalmic Epidemiology · multi-country surgical-rate analysis
2013Review of blindness and visual impairment in Paraguay: changes between 1999 and 2011Ophthalmic Epidemiology · national trend analysis
2014Is the cost the primary barrier for cataract surgery in Paraguay?Arquivos Brasileiros de Oftalmologia · access-to-surgery research
2020Learning curve of residents for manual small-incision cataract surgery (MSICS)Fundación Visión · structured surgical-training evidence
Watch & explore
Watch & explore
These public videos and source pages add visual context. YouTube content loads only after the visitor chooses to play it. Image and patient-consent rights must still be confirmed before any new media is republished locally.
Important interpretation note
Important interpretation note
This page separates documented facts from programme claims. Surgical counts from Fundación Visión and ChOSEN are attributed to those organizations; infrastructure and clinical constraints are attributed to interviews or partner reports. Nothing here is medical advice, a guarantee of access, a promise of free treatment or an independently audited outcome report.
Fuentes de investigaciónProfessional missions
Interested in joining a future DRC surgical team?
Use the professional pathway to submit your profile. Final clinical acceptance and assignment must be made by authorized medical leadership.