Aussie fund-raiser reaches Lahore

LAHORE : An Australian citizen Alexander 'Zan' Campbell reached Lahore after walking 40,000 km around the world to raise funds for the visually impaired people.

The Aussie, who is raising funds for Fred Hollows Foundation, visited the College of Ophthalmology and Allied Vision Sciences. The Fred Hollows Foundation has been working with the College of Ophthalmology and Allied Vision Sciences in Pakistan since 1998. The mission of the College of Ophthalmology and Allied Vision Sciences is to promote excellence in the provision of quality eye care to end all forms of blindness in Pakistan. ‘Zan’, who left Sydney in February 2023, has visited Fred Hollows Foundation programmes in Bangladesh and Nepal.

Principal of college Prof Dr M Moin briefed ‘Zan’ about all the projects in Pakistan and the joint efforts of Fred Hallows to restore sight. He also visited all the departments of the college. Alexander 'Zan' Campbell hoped that with this partnership between college and Fred Hallows will be able to control treatable eye diseases. 'Zan' thanked Prof Dr. M Moin, Prof Emeritus Dr. Asad Aslam Khan, Farooq Awan, Dr. Javed Iqbal, Staff Officer Hamad Hasan Farid, Programme Officer Shazia Shabbir and the rest of the team for organising such a wonderful meeting. It may be recalled that in 2023, Fred Hollows Foundation in collaboration with College of Ophthalmology and Allied Vision Sciences conducted more than 17,000 sight-restoring cataract operations in Pakistan, screened more than 213,000 people, provided more than 11,000 pairs of contact lenses and trained more than 2,000 community health workers and teachers.