KARACHI, Dec 23: In response to a news-item captioned “Eye hospital that plunges patients into darkness” that appeared in the Dec 21, 2006, issue of Dawn, the Layton Rehmatulla Benevolent Trust has said it has treated 12 million patients so far and performed 1.3 million major/minor surgeries.

“Every one in three patients visiting an eye OPD in Pakistan is treated at an LRBT facility. Twenty-six per cent of all eye surgeries are conducted by LRBT, which was founded 21 years ago to fight curable blindness that was then and still remains a major issue. Treatment of patients and their surgery are totally free,” says a press statement issued by LRBT on Saturday.

“Your correspondent has given a few cases where the patients’ vision had not improved after surgery. This may be due to complicating factors such as glaucoma, diabetes, retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, etc. It is difficult to comment without examining each individual case. But what has to be kept in mind is the sheer volume of surgery performed by us: over 92,000 major surgeries in 2005/6 alone,” says the press statement.

“The International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) has laid down standards for what is good quality surgery. This is given in terms of visual outcomes - i.e. how well a patient can see post surgery. We rigorously monitor this every month and are probably the only organisation in eye care in Pakistan to do so. Our performance at our hospitals is better than the ICEH standard.”

The press statement notes that LRBT’s hospital near Multan, in common with our other hospitals, possesses state-of-the-art equipment which very few other facilities have.

“The design of the operating theatre is in line with modern practice. We are very conscious of maintaining a sterile environment and take great pains to ensure this. To ensure this we conduct regular tests to confirm that the desired sterile conditions are present. If necessary we even close the OTs and conduct deep cleansing whenever needed.”

The LRBT press statement says 55 per cent of their doctors have postgraduate qualifications.

“This has been recognised by independent international observers such as Sight Savers International, an international non-governmental organisation whose evaluation team headed by a world renowned WHO consultant had this to say about LRBT: “The clinical and technical side of the LRBT programme is impressive.” It buys only quality medicines from reputable companies. Intraocular lenses are procured from Fred Hollows Laboratories which are WHO approved.”