… Visually Impaired Community speaks out on eye specialist suspension
The suspension of Maseru District Hospital’s only eye specialist, Dr. Wenjun Fan, has drawn strong criticism from the Lesotho National League of the Visually Impaired Persons (LNLVIP), which warns that the decision has placed hundreds of vulnerable patients at serious risk.
Dr. Fan was suspended for three months with pay on October 24, 2025, over allegations of disclosing confidential information to the media. While investigations continue, his absence has triggered mounting anxiety among patients whose treatment has stalled, and LNLVIP says the situation has now reached an unacceptable point.
LNLVIP Chairperson, Jeremane Teele, said the organisation is deeply concerned by the rapid deterioration in care for visually impaired Basotho who depend on public health services.
“We are afraid that the conditions of patients are worsening while there is no one with the expertise to attend to them,” Teele said. “Many of our people cannot afford private hospitals. Suspending the only specialist without securing an alternative has put lives and sight in danger.”
He confirmed that the league had already received a complaint from ’Mamolemohi Ramokotjo, a parent whose child requires lifelong specialised care. Mokotjo’s case, he said, is likely just one example of the “damage that will be huge” if patients continue to wait months without proper treatment.
Patients interviewed by Newsday described long delays, cancelled operations and consultations handled by staff who openly admitted lacking specialised training in eye care.
One patient explained that they only learned about the doctor’s suspension when they arrived for a scheduled check-up on November 8.
“I did not get the services I expected or the way I would usually do with Dr. Fan,” the patient said.
The patient said they were supposed to undergo a minor eye operation. “This is now impossible without Dr. Fan,” the patient said, adding that the next available surgery date offered elsewhere was in February 2026.
“I feel it is too far because I can tell my eye has a problem,” the patient lamented, emphasising the need for a doctor’s check-up, not just a nurse, because an operation is required.
They urged the management to bring Dr. Fan back. “For the short time he is away, we are really suffering.”
Another long-time patient, who followed Dr. Fan from the LDF clinic to Queen II because of his consistent service, said the suspension has left them “stranded” and struggling as their condition worsens.
The patient described the care they received during a check-up scheduled for November 5 as “what I did not expect or at least what I think Dr. Fan would have given me.”
The impact of Dr. Fan’s suspension is felt most acutely by parents whose children require specialised eye care. Ramokotjo, whose child is one of his patients, shared a distressing account of what has happened since his removal.
Her child had already undergone an operation on one eye performed by Dr. Fan. During a follow-up visit, he advised that the other eye would also need to be removed in the future. However, when she returned for the next scheduled check-up, she learned that the doctor had been suspended.
According to Ramokotjo, the staff who attended to them openly admitted that they did not have in-depth knowledge of eye conditions. They were unable to assess the child’s progress and simply renewed the previous prescription.
The mother was told to return for the third check-up once Dr. Fan had resumed duty.
Feeling desperate and uncertain about her child’s care, Ramokotjo took her concerns to the media and contacted Member of Parliament (MP) for Tsolo constituency, Mathiba Malothoane, which prompted an intervention from the Minister of Health.
She was invited to Queen II to meet a panel of doctors. During the meeting, she expressed her lack of confidence in the hospital, noting that her child’s blindness had not been detected at birth despite being delivered at the same facility.
She proposed either reinstating Dr. Fan or arranging for her child to be transferred to Bloemfontein for specialised treatment. Ultimately, she agreed that her child would first undergo a full assessment at Queen II, as the referral hospital.
Fortunately, on the day of the appointment, she was satisfied with the care provided. Her child received attention using the same specialised equipment Dr. Fan had relied on, and she was informed that the remaining eye was stable and did not require removal at this stage, although close monitoring would be necessary.
The hospital also provided an artificial eye for the eye previously operated on by Dr. Fan.
Maseru District Hospital’s Public Relations Officer, Kekeletso Motanyane, said she wished to clarify that no patient was being turned away without receiving attention. Motanyane explained that, in Dr. Fan’s absence, trained nurses in the eye department were continuing to see patients and manage cases within their scope.
However, she noted that when a patient presented with a condition beyond the nurses’ expertise, the hospital had put alternative measures in place.
“In such cases, we refer patients to facilities where there are eye doctors, including our tertiary hospital, QMMH (Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital), where most of our patients are referred,” she said.
Dr. Fan, however, disputed the adequacy of this arrangement during an interview with Public Eye. He maintained that he was the only clinician able to perform eye operations in the public sector and that QMMH was currently unable to conduct such surgeries.
This means all patients who had been scheduled for operations during his suspension will not undergo their procedures as planned.
He said that for November alone, four children were booked for operations, one per week, and none of these surgeries can now take place.
“I think we have more than 1,000 patients, adults and children, who had appointments but cannot be properly examined because the essential eye machinery at the hospital, including the microscope, is broken,” he added.
Summary
- “I feel it is too far because I can tell my eye has a problem,” the patient lamented, emphasising the need for a doctor’s check-up, not just a nurse, because an operation is required.
- The patient described the care they received during a check-up scheduled for November 5 as “what I did not expect or at least what I think Dr.
- During the meeting, she expressed her lack of confidence in the hospital, noting that her child’s blindness had not been detected at birth despite being delivered at the same facility.
Ntsoaki Motaung is an award-winning health journalist from Lesotho, specializing in community health stories with a focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as HIV. She has contributed to platforms like “Be in the KNOW,” highlighting issues such as the exclusion of people with disabilities from HIV prevention efforts in Lesotho.
In addition to her journalism, Ntsoaki serves as the Country Coordinator for the Regional Media Action Plan Support Network (REMAPSEN). She is also a 2023 CPHIA Journalism Fellow.
