Al-Shifa Trust Organizes 500 Camps In Remote Areas To Combat Eye Ailments

President of the Al-Shifa Trust Major General (R) Rehmat Khan on Monday said that as many as 500 camps had been set up in remote areas of the country during 2023 to combat the rising prevalence of eye diseases

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Jan, 2024) President of the Al-Shifa Trust Major General (R) Rehmat Khan on Monday said that as many as 500 camps had been set up in remote areas of the country during 2023 to combat the rising prevalence of eye diseases.

While giving a media briefing about the initiative of Al-Shifa Trust, he informed that 400 general eye screening camps, 40 school screening camps, and 55 surgical eye camps had been organized across Pakistan during the outgoing year.

Rehmat added that the Primary sponsors of these camps included Qatar Charity, OGDCL, PPL, AFNA, and the Pakistan Army, while the Rupani Foundation had also funded two eye camps.

He said that the trust was conducting the largest outreach programme in the country, reaching out to the far-flung regions of Gawadar and Pasni and the impoverished districts of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Rehmat said that over a year, 550,000 patients were treated at these camps and thousands of the poor had their vision restored.

A sizable number of these patients lacked the means to reach a hospital for treatment, he added.

He noted that the Army's cooperation with the trust was highly commendable; in numerous regions of South and North Waziristan, adding, “They established food and lodging facilities and provided other essentials, enabling the locals to receive general eye care and surgical facilities.

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The Al-Shifa President said that the trust was dedicated to battling blindness while establishing surgical eye camps in certain rural places was a difficult task due to a range of issues.

Major General (R) Rehmat Khan informed that more than 125,000 schoolchildren had screened their eyes for various conditions, and 6,000 received free glasses.

He said al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital in Rawalpindi, Kohat, Sukkar, and Muzaffarabad received complex cases from the far-off areas, adding that the trust began an outreach project in 1992.

Rehmat said that the Al-Shifa Centre for Community Ophthalmology was increasing the number of free eye camps in far-flung areas on an annual basis where the majority of the patients lack the resources to access quality healthcare.

Eye-related problems were increasing at an alarming pace; therefore, all public and private concerns should boost their efforts to combat this menace, he underlined.