UP Volunteers and +MAS Foundation hold XXVI Cataract Surgery Conference

Mexico City, April 30, 2025.With the objective of bringing specialized, safe, accessible and quality ophthalmologic surgical care to patients in Tlapa, Guerrero, as well as in adjacent states such as Oaxaca and Morelos; volunteers from the Universidad Panamericana and +MAS Foundation Foundation carried out the XXVI Cataract Surgery Conference.

This campaign has focused on the treatment of cataracts, the main cause of reversible blindness in the world, whose treatment is exclusively surgical, which has generated a significant impact in the region. In addition, the improvement in visual acuity after surgery has a profound effect on patients' quality of life.

Impact in numbers: surgical care to transform lives

Since the beginning of these campaigns, 394 volunteers, including doctors, nurses and Medical Social Service Interns (MPSS) from Universidad Panamericana, have participated in these medical campaigns.

During the 2025 edition, 46 volunteers joined the program and 60 surgeries were performed daily for three consecutive days. In 2024, 172 families were benefited, showing the growth and consolidation of this social eye health project.

About Cataract Surgery Conference

The Cataract Surgery Days began in 1993 as an annual social camp organized by Dr. Jorge Alberto Castro, MD. Dr. Jorge Alberto Castrofounder and general director of +MAS - Medicina y Asistencia Social, A.C.

University students and international volunteers have participated in the project, motivated by the situation of extreme poverty in Tlapa de Comonfort. Tlapa de Comonfortone of the poorest municipalities in the country. The lack of health services and the detection of child malnutrition prompted the support to the community.

Since then, volunteers return in summer (for three months) and in winter (for one month) to provide assistance. With each social day, the aim has been to integrate more medical specialists and volunteers in the region.

In 1997, thanks to the support of Dr. Juan Ignacio Babayánophthalmologist and founder of the Mexican College of Glaucoma, A.C., residents and ophthalmology specialists were convened. After identifying the high incidence of cataracts and taking advantage of the fact that it is a relatively quick surgery, interventions began to be performed, thus improving the quality of life of the patients treated..

Universidad Panamericana's social commitment

The Universidad Panamericana has made it possible to convene MPSS interested in participating altruistically in this campaign. In general, the university has collaborated with the area of Medicine and Social Assistance by sending its interns to perform their social service at the +MAS Clinic.

This partnership represents an example of how higher education can have an impact on improving public health, medical equity and direct care for underserved populations.

With these actions, Universidad Panamericana reaffirms its commitment to the welfare of the vulnerable population and to the training of health professionals committed to building a better Mexico.