RAWALPINDI: Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital has introduced a Swiss technology for eye treatment.

Al-Shifa has become the first facility in Asia to use Femtosecond Laser developed by a Swiss company to carry out Bowmann Layer Transplant for the treatment of Keratoconus, an eye disease that affects cornea, said Prof. Dr Wajid Ali Khan, Chief of Medical Services of the trust.

He said that the latest technology will not only empower our ophthalmologists to deliver better vision care to their patients, but we will also train doctors working in other facilities.

Wajid Ali Khan said that about 200,000 people needed this procedure but the trust can conduct 800 surgeries annually because of limited supply, he said. He said that due to this latest technology, layers of one cornea can be used to treat two to three patients.

Senior Engineer of Ziemer Ophthalmic Systems AG Fritz Meyer who was on a visit to Pakistan, informed that this treatment takes a very thin layer of the donor’s cornea and is placed in a pocket in the patient’s diseased cornea.

This procedure strengthens the weak cornea, hence avoiding the need for a full cornea transplant. So far, twenty patients have been treated with this technique successfully at Al Shifa Eye hospital, which is encouraging, he added.

Since its establishment in 1991, the trust has been fighting against blindness and it has introduced many advanced treatment options during the last three decades.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2022