Mediaboss Marketing

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), after spending six days in Guatemala this summer doing free eye surgeries, plans a similar pro bono mission for next summer, perhaps in China, he told POLITICO in an interview.

Paul, who traveled with three staff members, journalists from five news organizations, plus conservative filmmaker David Bossie, worked with six other eye surgeons. The group performed about 250 surgeries, and he did about 20 of them.

Here is a lightly edited transcript of a phone conversation with the senator, who spent 17 years as a practicing ophthalmologist in Bowling Green, Ky.:

(PHOTOS: Rand Paul visits Guatemala)

POLITICO: How were surgeries different in Guatemala than back home?

PAUL: In the United States, people are obviously pleased when they get their vision back. But its not always as dramatic as this, since most of these patients [were] at least nearly blind and some virtually blind. And so to get their vision back [its ]just an amazing thing to see the smiles, the hugs, the tears the day after [when the bandages come off].

POLITICO: Whats the difference between American and Guatemalan cataracts?

PAUL: The severity. I do pro bono surgery in Kentucky, as well, and I will see some cases sometimes that are nearly as bad as these, because most people have the ability to get them out. Whereas down there, maybe, a third of the people get theirs out, because [so many] dont have the resources to do it or the doctors to do it. The biggest form of preventable blindness . is cataracts. And it mostly can be restored by removing the cataracts. They also get more sun exposure than we do, so they probably have a little higher incidence of cataracts.

(Also on POLITICO Magazine: The most interesting man in politics)

POLITICO: What was it like to travel with an entourage?

See the rest here:
Paul mulls China medical mission