Prevention of Blindness Trust (POBT) announced to fund 5000 eye surgeries along with medical examinations of 50,000 patients annually.
President Pakistan Islamic Medical Association’s (PIMA) Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dr Misbahul Aziz lauded POTB’s decision. POTB apart from managing a fund to sponsor patients who cant afford medical services, also decreed to increase the number of training courses for ophthalmologists and paramedics in Pakistan. POTB would also manage a fund to finance research in medical optics. Dr Misbah said that ‘highly qualified and properly trained workforce of eye specialists is needed for prevention of blindness at grass root levels in Pakistan, and there is also a need to launch programs for poor patients regarding affordable treatment for eye surgeries”.
Commenting on PIMA’s and POTB’s joint operations in Karachi, Misbah said that more than 1,000 patients had been operated and at least 4,300 were treated/examined for different eye diseases free of cost. He added that the joint venture had till date spent Rs 7.5 million on cataract surgeries. He added that one cataract surgery costs approximately Rs 4,000. He said that POBT was targeting secondary and peripheral settlements of the country. The trust is also training health teams which would be dispatched to examine patients and administer medicines apart from conducting training workshops at villages. POB, till date has conducted more than 15 training programs in four countries around the world, and more than 300 eye care professionals have been trained. Also, a large number of training programs have been organized to enhance the skills of already qualified professionals. The trust trains all cadres of eye care professionals
Beside provision of free medicines, a large number of cataract blindness patients are operated upon and implanted with Intra Ocular Lenses (IOL) to restore their visions. Treatments for minor eye ailments are also provided free of cost, while special pre-operative and post operative care is ensured.
