| Letters

Plus Caption Competition, Quips & Quotes, Life in NZ and 10 Quick Questions

Mark Broatch’s story (“Sight for sore eyes”, April 1) shed light on a subject that needs to be brought to the attention of more New Zealanders.

In 2016, before I turned 75, I consulted my GP for a medical certificate to renew my driver licence. Driving at night had not been pleasant for two years, and I rarely did so. A few weeks before visiting the doctor, I had driven my wife a few kilometres to a function on a wet evening and found the lights reflecting badly off the road.

The GP was not happy with the eye test and suggested I consult my optician as soon as possible. That confirmed I had cataracts in both eyes, the right more advanced.

Using laser surgery, Dr Nick Mantell at Auckland’s Eye Institute removed the right-eye cataract on a Friday afternoon in early November. I had a check-up on the Saturday and the left eye done on the Monday, with a check-up the following day. The Eye Institute dealt directly with my health insurer, so I had no paperwork to worry about.

The improvement in vision was immediate. During the Tuesday check-up, I was told my vision was two lines on the chart better than 20/20 vision and was given a certificate to

have the endorsement to wear glasses while driving removed from my licence. I had worn glasses for driving since 1968.

If I have a disappointment, it’s that I have to wear glasses for reading. I had been advised this could be the outcome. You can’t win all the time.

Anyone who suspects they have impaired vision should have a check-up. Don’t leave it to get better – it won’t. John Mead (Waiheke Island) Mark Broatch comments that he “didn’t have $5000 for private surgery”. On the evidence supplied, he is younger than most cataract patients, and he has work. This suggests to me that many others with cataracts will have to wait for surgery in a public hospital if they are to get any attention at all.

The sum of $5000 needs to be weighed against our other financial demands. People entering adult life today will need over $500,000 for a house and, according to experts, up to $1.5 million for a retirement fund. They don’t need the burden of another $5000 for the management of an eye condition.

The solution is to create a fully funded national health service, which is the only way to get rid of inequities in the

provision of medical care. Roger Ridley-Smith (Khandallah, Wellington)

of Matthew Wright’s book

The Holocaust. Regrettably, the accompanying photo’s caption, stating “concentration camp in Poland”, was misleading and offensive. Concentration camps were located in occupied Poland by Nazi Germany, so the proper wording is “former Nazi German concentration and death camp Auschwitz in occupied Poland”.

Concerns about the use of the term “Polish death camp” led the Polish Government to request that Unesco change the official name of Auschwitz on its World Heritage list to make clearer that the camp was built and operated by Nazi Germany. This was agreed to at a Unesco World Heritage committee meeting in Christchurch in June 2007, and the name became: “Auschwitz Birkenau: German Nazi concentration and extermination camp (19401945)”. Such details matter.

Zbigniew Gniatkowski

Ambassador of Poland to New Zealand

(Wellington)

We understand Poland’s sensitivity on this point and will respect Unesco’s naming policy. – Ed