Al-Shifa Trust mission: IWCCI to support 0.5 million blind people's treatment annually

President, Islamabad Women's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI), Samina Fazil said that her organisation has decided to support the mission of late Lieutenant General Jahan Dad Khan (Retd), the founder of Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, who ensured free treatment to over half a million people annually since 1985.
Speaking at a condolence reference on the first anniversary of Jahan Dad Khan marked on Friday she said that eradication of preventable blindness from Pakistan is a noble cause, which merits attention of the private sector. She said, "90 per cent of the visually impaired live in developing countries out of which 80 per cent can be cured." Globally 19 million children are visually impaired out of which only 1.4 million are irreversibly blind, she added.
She said that issues hampering the efforts to eradicate preventable blindness include lack of facilities, volunteers, advocacy, donations, community services and support teaching to help blind live independently. She asked chairman of the trust Lieutenant General Hamid Javaid (Retd) to speed-up plans for establishing more eye hospitals in remote areas.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Murtaza Mughal, an economic expert, said that low-income countries can make progress in avoidable blindness if developed ones support them. He said that difficulty in accessing eye care services and lack of blindness prevention programmes is resulting in loss of productivity. Dr Murtaza Mughal said that limitations and implications of visual impairment cannot be measured; however, it diminishes the quality of life for blind and their families. He said that most of the blind schools in Pakistan are in a very poor state needing more funds, equipment, manpower and regular visits of eye doctors.