SWABI, May 8: Sixty-seven patients have been selected for operation in a free eye camp organised in Topi on Tuesday.

Salim Bahadar, coordinator of the free eye camp, told journalists that it was organised by the Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi, and the main objective was to provide free treatment to the poverty-stricken eye patients of Topi Tehsil and its suburbs.

Mr Salim said that 405 patients, including 210 women, were checked by a seven-member team of the Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital. Among the seven staff taking part in the camp, he said two were male eye specialists and one female eye specialist.

He said that it was the first occasion that an opportunity was provided to female villagers to test their eyesight by a lady doctor and it was also the first time that more women were checked as compared to males.

The patients were screened in the eye-screening camp for squints, allergies, amblyopic, congenital cataracts and other diseases. The patients for refractive errors and allergies were given treatment on the spot whereas the rest were referred to hospitals, he said.

He said 20 patients were taken for operation and 47 more would be operated very soon while 22 were told that they needed major treatment.