Ophthalmology consultant Soonu Verghese officially took retirement from West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven last October but continued part-time until earlier this month.
Mr Verghese played a vital role in bringing back the age-related macular degeneration service to North Cumbria University Hospitals a year ago, allowing patients to be treated locally instead of having to travel to Newcastle.
He also set up a successful link between the Whitehaven hospital and a partner hospital in Tanzania in 2007, which is still going strong.
Mr Verghese trained in India, qualifying in 1973 before moving to the UK in 1976 and going on to obtain his fellowship exams in ophthalmology in 1983.
He started work at the West Cumberland Hospital 10 years later. Since then he and his consultant colleagues have overseen a considerable improvement in local services for west Cumbria. This includes the introduction of laser treatment, small incision cataract surgery and specialised clinics.
Mr Verghese initiated the trust’s twinning programme with Mbeya Hospital in Tanzania in 2007.
In 2010, when the revamp started at the West Cumberland Hospital, he arranged for a container full of recycled equipment to be transported to the hospital. He secured financial support from Cockermouth Rotary, in which he plays an active part.
He hopes to return to Tanzania later this year to help maintain this link.
After several years as a committee member and secretary of the North of England Ophthalmic Society (NEOS), it was a special honour in his final year of work for Mr Verghese to be appointed president of the NEOS – the largest regional ophthalmic society the UK with over 490 members.
Fellow ophthalmology consultant Will Sellar said: “Mr Verghese will be very much missed by many elderly patients whose sight was maintained by his care, as well as by his medical colleagues and the nursing team in the eye unit.”
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