RAWALPINDI: Speakers at a seminar on Friday urged parents to get their children’s eyes tested to prevent visual disorders as at present 1.5 million children were blind.

The seminar titled ‘Child Eye Healthcare and Prevention of Child Blindness’, was organised by the Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital.

“Many children are unaware of the disease because they don’t know they have a vision problem. They assume that they see the way everyone around them sees,” retired Lt-Gen Hamid Javaid, president of the Al Shifa Trust, said.

Mr Javaid said that vision problems affected millions of primary schoolchildren nationwide, and said that 60 per cent of children die within two years of blindness. He said that this was a healthcare issue that must be addressed immediately.

Javaid announced at the seminar that Pakistan’s first state of the art specialized children’s eye hospital has been planned, and that construction will begin by the end of this year. “We will provide quality eye healthcare to underprivileged children free of cost,” he added.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Sorath Noorani discussed existing child eye healthcare facilities at the Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital in Rawalpindi, and highlighted their efforts to promote child eye healthcare.

Noorani said that around 40,000 children with various visual disorders visited the hospital annually. She said that the hospital had not started a screening programme for Retinopathy of Prematurity in major hospitals in the twin cities, and planned to expand the programme to hospitals throughout the country.

Dr. Tayyab Afghani discussed the various visual disorders that could affect children, and World Health Organisation (WHO) representative Dr. Zareefud Din Khan assured the hospital of the WHO’s continued supports.

In addition, Pakistan State Oil donated Rs3 million for the purchase of equipment that will help fight preventable child blindness.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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