"The retinal cryoprobe was commercialised by ophthalmologist and biomedical engineer Dr Selig Percy Amoils in 1965, while he worked at the Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. The cryoprobe is a large, pen-like instrument commonly used in cryosurgery, a technique frequently used to treat cataracts. During cryosurgery, the cryoprobe is inserted into a cut in the eye to deliver extremely cold liquid gas, with precision, which freezes onto a cataract. The cataract (or other unwanted tissue) can then be removed, with no risk of destroying healthy adjacent tissue.If left untreated, cataracts may eventually cause blindness. The condition ‘posterior capsular opacification’ (cataract) is the world’s leading cause of blindness, accounting for approximately 42% of all cases. In South Africa, it has been identified as a national health priority, as it remains the leading cause of blindness in the country, according to the South African Optometric Association.Cataract surgery is one of the most common procedures performed worldwide, and is considered among the most successful treatments in all of medicine. Late President Nelson Mandela had the cataract in his left eye removed by Dr Amoils just days after his swearing in as democratic South Africa’s first black President."- SA Mint