The Dr Steve Beaty Eye Centre

For twenty years now we have had the privilege of knowing Jane and Steve Beaty. The son of Southern Baptist missionaries, as a child, Steve had spent 16 years in Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe.
Through the years, Dr. Beaty has volunteered as a medical doctor to numerous countries such as India, Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Mexico.

In 2004, Dr. Beaty stepped out in faith and moved his family to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to serve as a medical missionary with the International Mission Board. For Dr. Beaty this was like coming home.
After completion of the 4 year commitment, he returned to West Georgia Eye Care . He now continues to return to Zimbabwe each year for 4-8 weeks working with and meeting the eyesight and vision needs of the people.

The Beatys have tended to and treated, hundreds, nay, thousands of Zimbabweans with eye problems culminating in,
after almost two years of planning and construction, a new eye centre at the Mater Dei Hospital which was dedicated last week.

The hospital board of Mater Dei Hospital had agreed that it should be named 'The Dr. Steve Beaty Eye Center', and the caption attached said, 'For me to live is Christ...'.

The opening was attended by the board members, the mayor of Bulawayo and around a hundred invited guests. This centre will house the doctors that Steve has trained along with an operating room. We anticipate that the upcoming retina centre will also be situated in this facility. We rejoice that God has allowed us to see the fruit of +24 years of ministering, teaching and encouraging our colleagues here in Bulawayo.

And so on Wednesday, August 19, 2024, Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo proudly opened the doors to its new Eye Centre-a cutting-edge facility designed to bring world-class eye care closer to home for the people of Bulawayo. This modern addition, the first of its kind in the city, ensures that locals can receive top-quality eye treatment right in their own community, rather than having to travel abroad.

The Eye Centre has been named in honour of Dr. Stephen Beaty, a respected ophthalmologist whose dedication to advancing eye care and supporting humanitarian efforts has made a lasting impact, particularly in Zimbabwe.
Dr. Beaty's heartfelt speech at the event, delivered partly in isiNdebele, was a powerful reminder of how deeply he connects with the communities he serves. His use of the local language resonated with everyone, echoing Nelson Mandela's sentiment that speaking to someone in their language touches their heart.

Dr. Beatty's commitment to the cause of eye care has never wavered, and his presence at the event left a deep impression on all who attended.

The opening of the Eye Centre is part of a larger expansion at Mater Dei Hospital, which now includes a range of new services, such as orthopaedic care, a women's clinic for cervical cancer screening, and an audiology unit. This development marks another chapter in the hospital's long history of providing top-tier healthcare in Zimbabwe since its founding in the 1950s by the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood.