Ganga Ram Hospital achieves excellence in eye treatment

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGH) Lahore has taken a lead among the health institutions of the country in the treatment of patients facing different eye diseases including cataract and glaucoma, while complicated eye surgery cases are being referred to Eye Department of SGH from various parts of the country including NWFP and AJK.
Stating this renowned ophthalmologist and Assistant Professor Ophthalmology, Eye Department Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr Huma Kayani, told Business Recorder here on Saturday that the SGH has the best team of eye surgeons, who under the supervision of Professor Dr Akbar Chaudhry, Professor Dr Hamid Mahmood Butt and Professor Dr Naeem Ullah, are doing miracles in the treatment of eye patients, despite limited resources.
The Ophthalmology Department of the SGH is doing hundreds of surgeries every month, including dozens of cases of laser treatment, she said. Nevertheless, team of ophthalmologists at SGH is serving the ailing humanity devotedly.
Talking about availability of ophthalmologists in the country, Professor Dr Huma Kayani maintained that like other developing countries, Pakistan is also facing shortage of ophthalmologists.
At present there are estimated over 2000 ophthalmologists in the country as against requirements of at least 5000 ophthalmologists. The situation in rural areas of the country is very grim, as half of the existing ophthalmologists do not operate on cataracts.
In some areas, trained ophthalmologists are doing general practice rather than eye care, she said. At the same time, she said that there is a concentration of eye health workers in urban areas, whereas the vast majority of our population lives in rural areas. The need is to review the existing training policies and programmes for the entire spectrum of human resources for eye care, she asserted.
To a question, Dr Huma Kayani said that most of the major causes of blindness in the country are preventable through timely treatment of the disease through a trained ophthalmologist. Cataract is one of the leading causes of blindness in the country and it could be prevented through in time treatment/ surgery, she said.
She called for integrating the primary eye care activities into primary health care.