‘Every 3 minutes, a person develops eye disease’

Every three minutes a person develops an eye disease in Pakistan, while a very small number have access to quality health services. This was said by Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospitals President Lieutenant General (retd) Hamid Javaid during a seminar, according to a press release issued on Saturday.

He said eye diseases have reached epidemic proportions and raised new challenges. He said 170,000 people lose their sight while the total number of blind people in Pakistan exceeds three million, a majority of whom – 80% – have curable conditions that could also have been prevented or treated.

He said that so far, the trust has provided eye-care to six million people through its four hospitals in Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Kohat, and Muzaffarabad, adding that the trust is training 100 paramedics and arranging specialisation for 20 doctors while providing free treatment to roughly half-a-million people every year.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2012.