‘0.5m women suffer from blindness in Pakistan’

Expert calls for government-led initiative for eye health

RAWALPINDI:

There are at least 2.2 billion blind or visually impaired people in the world, and according to Al-Shifa Trust (AST), the complication could have been avoided in at least 1 billion of those cases.

Vision impairment is four times higher in low and middle-income areas as compared to high-income areas, and according to WHO estimates, vision impairment results in an annual global productivity loss of $411 billion, which poses a significant financial burden.

The prevalence of blindness and vision impairment is higher in females than males. In a ceremony to commemorate June as Cataract Awareness Month, the Head of the Rawalpindi Cataract Department at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital said that presently, almost half a million women in Pakistan are suffering from blindness and vision impairment.

“AST already performs 52,000 surgeries free of charge annually. The government should step up, as existing facilities are insufficient to handle the influx of eye patients,” he added. “With the rising population and increase in average age, the number of cataract patients is increasing in the country, and a large number of women develop blindness since they do not have access to eye facilities.”

According to Dr Sabihuddin, Pakistan is one of the top countries when it comes to diabetes, which is also driving up the rate of eye disease. He said cataracts are a kind of age-related degeneration and cannot be controlled. Therefore, the government should strengthen the eye departments in all state-run hospitals, including those established at the district level, and support all such initiatives.

He added that AST performs almost 100 to 120 surgeries daily, it has thirty air-conditioned operation theatres, 25 expert doctors, six anaesthetists and state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities. The AST’s Cataract Department has completed one million surgeries since its founding.