Daily 480 people developing eye diseases in Pakistan:Hamid Javaid

Lahore: Lieutenant General (Retd) Hamid Javaid, President Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospitals on Thursday said that almost 480 people are developing eye disorders in Pakistan every day.

Around fourteen thousand people are exposing to eye diseases every month which means that a person is catching disease every three minutes which is distressing the whole society, he said.

Speaking to a seminar, Hamid Javaid said that spike in eye diseases has now reached to the proportions of epidemic raising new challenges.

An insignificant number of victims have access to the affordable and quality health services which leaves some 175,200 per annum with permanent blindness.

This is one of the major reason Pakistan has over three million bling which has become a serious social issue, he said.

He informed that majority have curable blindness, 80 per cent of blindness is avoidable through prevention or treatment.

So far we have provided eye-care facilities to six million people through four hospitals in Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Kohat, and Muzaffarabad but a lot needs to be done, he said.

President Al-Shifa said that we every year we are providing training to one hundred paramedics, arranged specialisation for twenty doctors and provided free treatment to half a million patients every year regardless of gender, race, colour or religion is our basic aim.

Blindness is one of the major health problems in Pakistan draining both its human and economic resources, said Hamid Javaid, adding that Pakistan needs more assistance to make medical treatment available to the many people suffering from optical diseases.