RAWALPNDI: Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital and Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide quality healthcare facilities to the people of remote areas.
According to the agreement, the trust would hold free surgical eye camps in remote areas of the country, where people lacked quality eye care facilities.
The document was signed by Al-Shifa Trust Executive Director Rizwan Asghar and OGDC Corporate Social Responsibility Manager Abdul Rauf Khajjak. Other relevant officials belonging to both the institutions were also present on the occasion.
The trust would hold 27 free surgical eye camps in remote areas of the country with the cooperation of the OGDC, and all the facilities would be provided free of cost to the patients. Officials from both the departments also agreed to increase cooperation in future as part of efforts to better serve humanity.
Speaking on the occasion, Rizwan Asghar said that the trust was providing medical assistance to 250,000 people annually through free eye camps, around 300,000 people were treated in hospitals, while 150,000 children were screened for eye ailments and treated in schools.
He said that present efforts were not enough as more resources should be allocated in this connection to enable the government and private organisations to effectively pursue this noble cause.
The trust provided free treatment worth Rs 800 million annually, while a plan had been devised to raise resources to assist more people without compromising the quality of treatment, he added.
Asghar noted that as many as 15 per cent of the children visiting eye-screening camps in different schools have been diagnosed with a problem which was alarming, as it posed a threat to the well-being of children.
