Cataract surgical blitzes: an Australian anachronism

Surgical blitzes to treat eye disease are often used to redress shortfalls in service provision. In developing countries with scarce human and financial resources, such periodic visits from local or overseas health teams may be justified, as they are generally combined with building local capacity. However, Australia has no such resource constraints. Despite this, surgical blitzes occur year after year in some rural and remote locations in Australia, without concurrent development of sustainable local services. We see this as a particular problem for eye health in Indigenous people.