LAHORE, Oct.13: Governor Khalid Maqbool said on Friday the government was taking every possible measure to fight eye diseases with special thrust on preventive side of the treatment.

He said at a one-day “Curriculum workshop on ophthalmology” in Mayo Hospital here that ‘Master Public Health’ course would be started under the aegis of Institute of Preventive Ophthalmology so that people suffering from eye diseases could be treated besides creating awareness about preventive aspect of the disease.

He appreciated the role of King Edward Medical College which has now elevated to the university level and said it should now be prepared to meet health challenges facing the people.

There was a dire need of creating awareness about ophthalmological disorder in society where 25 per cent of the population was suffering from various diseases, he said.

Referring to the measures taken by the government to look after the health requirements of the people, the governor unfolded health policies that included provision of clean drinking water and said filtration plant project was under way while network of Basic Health Units, Rural Health Centers and Tehsil Headquarters was being strengthened where doctors had been given lucrative financial incentives.

The governor said efforts were being made to ensure round-the-clock availability of doctors, including senior doctors, at health centres located in remote areas in the province.

He said a new medical college would soon be set up in Sargodha which would operate under the aegis of Sargodha University.

Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed said about 50 million people were suffering from eye diseases all over the world, of which 1.4 million were in Pakistan while 0.9 million in the Punjab.

KEMU vice-chancellor Dr Mumtaz Hasan, pro-vice-chancellor Syed Ovais Ahmed and Dr Clair Gilbert of UK Ophthalmological Society also spoke on the occasion.—APP