KARACHI, March 22: At least 340,000 people in Sindh are estimated to be totally blind while several others are found to have only partial sight.

In a briefing, Prof Ziauddin A. Sheikh, provincial coordinator, Prevention of Blindness Control Programme for Sindh, told Dr Hannan Chowdhry, regional adviser for WHO’s eastern Mediterranean region for prevention of blindness, that Sindh was the only province to have an approved PC-I for prevention of blindness, reflecting the government commitment for the purpose. He said since 1999 the programme had been instrumental in training 640 LHWs, 425 general practitioners, 150 healthcare managers and 110 ophthalmologists.

The programme was also said to have provided equipment worth Rs800,000 to various facilities, including cataract instrument sets, opthalmo-retinoscopes, binomags and tonometers after carrying out a situational analysis in various districts.

Equipment worth around Rs10 million received from the Fred Hollows Foundation have been distributed among health facilities in five districts. The WHO has provided eye equipment for Dadu district and Al-Shifa Trust was interested to do the same in the five remaining districts, he added.

Dr Chowdhry underlined the need for integrated efforts by bringing all stakeholders on board, sharing the scarce resources and avoiding wastage through duplication and fragmentation of efforts.

He called for effective decentralization of efforts to give the provincial and district levels a freer hand in planning, monitoring and implementing their activities.

The WHO regional adviser suggested effective utilization of lady health workers in the programme, as prevention of blindness was already part of their mandate.

He called upon NGOs to carry out their activities in association with governmental agencies.

He advised the WHO operation officer to associate himself more actively with the provincial task force for better coordination.

The WHO official was informed about certain operational research studies undertaken by the cell, including a rapid assessment of trachoma, situational analysis of Thatta district and mapping of cataract facilities and that a national survey was stated to be underway.

Earlier, speaking at a meeting of the representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations working for blindness prevention and eradication, Dr Chowdhry advised them to devise cost-effective interventions and mechanisms for running their programmes along suitable lines.

He also visited the ophthalmology departments of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and the Layton Rehmatullah Benevolent Trust Hospital, Korangi.

In his meeting with Prof Tariq Aziz of the JPMC and Dr Saleh Memon of the Isra University, Dr Chowdhry while appreciating the efforts of the faculty and staff of the JPMC ophthalmology department, advised them to carry out an intensive academic process, promote meaningful research in ophthalmology and shorten the training process of postgraduate students from four years to three years.

During his visit to the LRBT Hospital, he was informed that out of the total 63,000 cataract operations performed in Sindh, around 15,000 were carried out at the hospital.

Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi, WHO operations officer for Sindh, said the LRBT Hospital had been adopting a holistic approach and offering rehabilitative services as well for deserving patients.

Dr Chowdhry advised them to mobilize their outreach workers where LHWs were not available.—APP