Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi had treated more than 60,000 eye patients in its free eye camp under its community outreach programme in year 2008, says the annual report of Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital community outreach programme here.
According to the annual camp report of Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi, the hospital had set up 139 free eye camp in the far-flung and remote areas last year that also included the free school eye screening camps. These camps also include Azad Kashmir and the tribal areas.
The report says that a total number of 35,081 patients were screened at the eye camp while 25028 children were screened and treated during the free school eye screening. Talking to the sources the general manger of the community outreach programme, Colonel Tahir (Retd) said that in the free eye camps the patients were provided medicines, lenses and glasses to the needy free of cost. Out of these patients, 1988 patients were found with serious cases and were referred to Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi.
"These patients had been brought to the Al-Shifa Trust Hospital Rawalpindi to undergo surgeries Said Colonel (Retd) Tahir, who is the head of the Al-Shifa Trust Centre for community ophthalmology (ACCO) department under which the community outreach program is carried out. Those in need of eye care were brought to the camp from their doorsteps, a move to ensure that everyone participated in it. Said Colonel (R) Tahir.
"The turnout was very high and a large number of patients, of every age group visited these camps", Tahir said. According to Dr Kashif and Dr Asif out of the total number of patients examined maximum were found with allergies and Blepharitus due to dust and lack of hygiene.
They said that almost 10-12 per cent of the people screened were found with cataract. Besides, there were also some patients who were complaining of refractive power, watering of the eyes squint and some were also found with night blindness and trauma cases.
He further said that glasses were provided for those who have refractive errors. Meanwhile talking to the media persons Chief of the Hospital, Lieutenant General Jahan Dad Khan (Retd) said that the camps were aimed at providing the best eye care facilities for the needy people at their doorsteps.
He further said that the team of Al-Shifa Trust has almost achieved its mission and goal by providing the maximum awareness among the local masses and government authorities to realise the complications regarding the eye diseases. He said that they appreciated the initiative taken by Al-Shifa Trust to set up its free eye-camps in such far flung areas.