Mrs. Safiah Mohamed Alamoudi, wife of Mohamed Abdulrahim Ba'abbad, had suffered from cataracts in both eyes for many years. Doctors in her home country, Saudi Arabia, tried surgery but called off her operation when a sudden and unexpected body movement as they were working on her left eye disclosed a previously unsuspected allergy to anesthesia.

But Safiah and her husband did not give up. Through her husband's international business contacts, names of doctors in various countries, including Spain and the United States were obtained, and her medical history sent out for review and appraisal. The responses which came back were discouraging. Most doctors did not want to take her case, as there was only a 10% possibility of success. Doctors at the Veterans' Hospital in Taipei made the same diagnosis as their other international colleagues, but they offered to try if the slight chances for success were thoroughly understood. Safiah and her husband decided to take the chance.

Once in Taipei, the Veterans' Hospital doctors examined Safiah and found that while the surgery was not too complicated, her severe allergy towards anesthesia and towards some other medicines made her case problematical, as they had thought.

But here, imagination and invention came to the rescue. The Veterans' Hospital doctors developed a procedure by which Safiah's entire body could be weakly anaesthetized without causing an allergic reaction that could have been expected from local anaesthesia.

The procedure worked. In a three-hour operation, the doctors encountered no allergic reaction problems and proceeded to do the required remedial surgery. After the bandages were removed, Safiah found her vision had returned to normal. During the recovery period the nurses and other hospital staff made friends with her, causing her to praise not only their professional skill but their human understanding.

To the surprise of some who had thought Saudia Arabian husbands don't pay much attention to their wives, Safiah's husband proved a pillar of strength. He never left the waiting room during his wife's operation and he kept her company during her convalescence. In response to questions about his tenderness and concern as a husband, he explained: "In Saudi Arabia, womens' social status had not been high traditionally, or even at the present time in all circles. Some men have four wives. It is permitted. But to me, my wife is very special. We married when she was fourteen years old. Now, twenty-two years later, she still accompanies me wherever I go. She is a loving wife, a good friend, and an integral part of me. Her health is not robust, so I try to give her special care and attention. We have not been granted the gift of children, but I have never had the wish to remarry."

The rise in medical standards in the Republic of China over the past years has moved ahead of popular understanding of this progress, but in Saudia Arabia, at least, news of the skills available here will be spread far and wide by the grateful couple. As for the doctors at the Veterans Hospital, they modestly say that they feel they should respond to even the most difficult challenges if there is any reasonable chance of success. They have done so on many other occasions, but Safiah of Saudia Arabia can attest to their skill and understanding from personal experience. When all seemed lost, they saved her eyesight.

[Picture Caption]

Safiah and her husband are very close. Here, her husband assists her to use chopsticks during her stay in the hospital.

1. Safiah is examined by head of Veterans Hospital Lin Ho-ming. 2. Safiah takes a stroll around the hospital with one of her nurses. 3. A grateful Safiah chats with her doctor Liu Jung-hung after her successful operation.

Safiah is examined by head of Veterans Hospital Lin Ho-ming.

A grateful Safiah chats with her doctor Liu Jung-hung after her successful operation.

Safiah takes a stroll around the hospital with one of her nurses.