QUETTA, Aug 2: NWFP Health Minister Agha Abdul Zahir Ahmedzai has said that presently 45 million people were facing blindness and their number was increasing with the passage of time.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of photo-coagulator laser eye machine donated by Hubco to the Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Fund (LRBT) Eye Hospital here the other day.

But, he said, it was a good omen that out of 45 million blinds the eyesight of 80% could be restored by surgery. The Balochistan Government was making hectic efforts to provide treatment facilities to the people suffering from eye diseases.

“It is expected blindness would be eliminated from Balochistan by 2020,” Mr Ahmedzai said. The United Nations had launched Vision 2020 Programme under which blindness would be eliminated from all over the world by 2020, and in this regard, Balochistan government was also engaged in providing maximum eye treatment facilities in the province to achieve this target, he explained.

For this purpose, the minister said, the government had appointed eye specialists in the rural areas, and eye camps were being conducted in various parts of the province to provide free treatment to the people.

He also urged upon the eye doctors to cooperate with the government in this regard and provide treatment facilities to people of far-flung areas on humanitarian grounds.