On World Sight Day, we're shining a light on the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital, part of our St John family, and the volunteers here in Wales who help it reach more than 232,000 patients a year.
Today, Thursday 8 October, is World Sight Day – a global moment to focus on eye health and the millions of people living with sight loss that could have been prevented or treated.
For St John Ambulance Cymru, it's also a chance to celebrate a part of our story that many people don't know. As well as training first aiders and supporting communities across Wales, we belong to the Order of St John – a worldwide family whose oldest work is caring for the sick. Its sight-saving arm is the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group.
144 years of saving sight
Founded in 1882, the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group is the oldest and largest charitable provider of expert eye care in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. In 2025 its hospitals, clinics and outreach teams treated more than 232,000 patients.
The need is huge. The rate of blindness in the occupied Palestinian territories is ten times higher than in the West, yet around 80% of blindness and visual impairment there is preventable or curable. Half of the Eye Hospital's patients are children.
The Eye Hospital treats everyone regardless of ethnicity, religion or ability to pay. Its work includes:
- outpatient care and major eye surgery
- dedicated care for women and children
- outreach teams that take screening and treatment to communities who can't reach a hospital
- training the next generation of eye care professionals, to the highest international standards
One small patient, one big difference
Jamal Radwan is two years old and comes from the northern West Bank. He had problems with his eyes from birth. The Eye Hospital's team in Jerusalem diagnosed and treated him – giving him the chance to grow up seeing the world around him.
Stories like Jamal's happen every day, but only because supporters make them possible. Many families simply could not afford treatment without help.
Wales' part in the story
Wales has supported the Eye Hospital for more than six decades. The Hospitallers' Club of Wales was founded in 1965 to help the hospital develop, and today the Hospitallers' Committee for Wales carries that work forward.
The Committee is chaired by the Hospitaller of the Priory for Wales, Stephen Jones, a volunteer role. Its members – eye care professionals and supporters from across Wales – raise funds, connect Welsh clinicians with colleagues at the Eye Hospital, back appeals for modern diagnostic equipment and raise awareness of eye care needs in the region.
At the start of 2026, that commitment was marked with a donation of £30,000 from Wales to the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group, presented on 24 January 2026.
How your donation helps
The Eye Hospital's Patient Relief Fund makes sure no one is turned away because of financial hardship – supporting refugees, marginalised people and families who can't afford treatment. Demand is rising.
|
Your gift |
What it can do |
|---|---|
|
£50 |
Buys a child vision screening kit, so eye conditions are caught early |
|
£250 |
Helps schedule more major sight-saving operations |
|
£500 |
Contributes towards an ophthalmoscope for one of the Eye Hospital's sites |
Donations to the Eye Hospital Group are also suitable for Zakat and Sadaqah Jariyah.
Give the gift of sight this World Sight Day
Whatever you can give, you'll be helping a child see their parents' faces, an adult return to work, or a grandparent read again.
Donate to the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital
Find out more about our Welsh Hospitallers' work on our St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital page, or about the Eye Hospital Group's global work at stjohneyehospital.org.