‘Diabetes-related vision loss on the rise’

ISLAMABAD:

The Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital President, Rehmat Khan, on Monday said that the cases of diabetes-related vision impairment are increasing in Pakistan.

According to recent reports, every fourth person in the country has diabetes, and 25 per cent of them do not know they have the problem, which results in severe eye problems, said Khan. He added that diabetic retinopathy, a condition where the blood vessels in the eye's retina are harmed, is on the rise. Talking to the media, he said diabetic retinopathy is the most typical reason for vision problems. Finally, losing one's sight.

Every day, hundreds of people in Pakistan lose their vision also due to avoidable conditions like cataracts, he pointed out. Khan said that over 2.6 million individuals suffer from preventable visual impairments, and cataracts are a significant contributor to preventable blindness among people 50 years of age or above. About 42 per cent of schoolchildren suffer from refractive error-related disorders.

Since the Al-Shifa Trust was established, 30 million people have received treatment, and 90,0000 surgeries have been completed. Almost one million OPD patients are received in a month, and 10,000 surgeries are performed monthly at the trust's hospitals in Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Kohat, Muzaffarabad, and Sukkar.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2024.