PESHAWAR, March 27: Hundreds of people developed vision problems and eye disorders because of accidents triggered by last October’s earthquake, an eye specialist said on Monday.

“There is an urgent need for treatment of people whose eyesight has been affected in the quake-hit areas of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP,” said Dr Glenn Strauss, a volunteer of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD).

On Monday, Dr Strauss operated upon 20 cataract patients in Mansehra. He is scheduled to undertake more cataract operations in Mansehra and Akora Khattak over the next few days.

Dr Strauss said that cataract patients needed to be handled carefully.

“During the earthquake, hundreds of people lost their eyesight due to various reasons. Similarly, the number of cataract patients is also very high and if these patients are not treated properly, it is feared that they might lose their eyesight,” he said.

He said the earthquake caused massive destruction in the NWFP and AJK. “It is the courage of the people who stood firm before this natural disaster and bear the hardships.

In terms of health, this is a major disaster in the history of Pakistan and it will need years to rebuild and re-establish health facilities,” he added.

“The establishment of emergency health care centres in all the quake-hit districts has positive results.

These centres have saved dozens of lives and people from disabilities, which is indeed a great achievement,” Dr Strauss mentioned.

The NCHD has established eight emergency health care centres, one each in Battagram, Shangla, Muzzafarabad, Bagh, Rawlakot and three in Mansehra, according to Javaid Azam Khan, the district general manager of NCHD.

“So far, a total of 55, 952 patients have been treated in these centres and provided with medicines. Dozens of minor and major surgeries have also been carried out in these centres,” he said.

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