Recommendation made for establishing eye care institute in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The national conference of the Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan continued here on Saturday as noted eye surgeons presented their papers in the scientific sessions.

The speakers discussed modern surgical procedures and techniques in their presentations.

An exhibition of ophthalmological equipment, instruments, supplies and medicines was also organized at the venue of the conference. The conference will conclude today.

The conference organized by the Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter is being attended by ophthalmologists from all over Pakistan. Three foreign delegates who had agreed to attend the conference changed their plans due to one or the other reason. One reason cited by a prospective participant from abroad was his security concerns following the terrorist attack on the Agriculture Training Institute in Peshawar on November 30 last year.

The conference began on Friday at a local hotel. The chief guest on the occasion was senior journalist, Rahimullah Yusufzai, who gave a talk on the media landscape in Pakistan.

Other speakers on the occasion were Professor Dr Ziaul Islam, President of the Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan, its secretary Dr Mahfouz and senior ophthalmologist Dr Nasir Saeed.

In his speech, Dr Ziaul Islam highlighted the recommendations made by the Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan for improve the eye care services in the periphery and reduce the prevalence and backlog of the blind population in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He recommended to the government to establish national programmes and regulations to prevent and control visual impairment. He also recommended that eye care services should be progressively integrated into primary and secondary health care system with a focus on the provision of services that are of high quality and are affordable. Another recommendation pertained to launching campaigns to educate about the importance of visual function and raise awareness, including school-based education. He recommended stronger government leadership on international partnership with increasing engagement of of the private sector.

Dr Ziaul Islam made a plea for establishment of a world class eye care institute in Peshawar to cope with the huge burden of ocular trauma in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 1978, the large pool of ophthalmic genetic disorders because of the high prevalence of intra-family marriages, and the need to take care of a big number of eye patients coming from neighbouring Afghanistan. He said this separate eye institute would also be dedicated to develop human resource in the form of eye care teams trained through residency programme, undertake research and medical education, and ensure sub-specialty based comprehensive eye care with equal emphasis on prevention, promotion, curative interventions and rehabilitation. He pointed out that the Punjab and Balochistan governments had already established provincial eye institutes and it was time Khyber Pakhtunkhwa set up such an institute to cater to the needs of not only the province but also Fata and Afghanistan.

Dr Mehfouz presented report on the performance of the Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan.

Dr Nasir Saeed read out the citation of the recipients of the awards and gold medals given by the Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan.

The gold medals were awarded to doctors and executives of pharmaceutical firms specializing in eye care equipment, instruments and medicines.

They included Dr Khalid Latif, Arshad Jassani, Rashid Bodla, Yousaf Saifee, Muhammad Almas, Muhammad Saleem and Zahid Hafeez.