Press Release

Eyecare center in Pakistan receives OFID support with US$100,000 grant

68/2006 July 13, 2006, Vienna, Austria
Press inquiries:

The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has approved a grant of US$100,000 to help finance the construction of an ophthalmology hospital in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Spearheaded by the Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT), the new facility will provide accessible, affordable eye care and treat curable blindness among needy populations in underserved areas.

The incidence of blindness in Pakistan is growing, and presently at least 1.5 million people are blind, with the number increasing annually by approximately 150,000 new cases. One of the major causes of blindness, however, is the most curable one – cataracts – a condition that can be remedied with a simple operation. Unfortunately, as two-thirds of the population live at or below the poverty line, they are unable to afford the treatment.

Founded in 1984, the mandate of the LRBT is to provide free eye care among poor communities in Pakistan. To date, the LRBT has treated over 11 million patients and performed over 1.1 million major and minor eye surgeries.

Under the present scheme, LRBT will construct a hospital, which will replace the present interim facility, in the Kashmir and Mansehra region in North West Frontier Province. The new 24-bed Mansehra Ophthalmic Hospital will contain operating theaters, a vision clinic, out-patient facilities and a pharmacy. It will be provided with appropriate state-of-the-art equipment to handle some 200 out-patient treatments and perform up to 25 major surgeries per day. This will benefit the large number of impoverished people whose situation has been exacerbated by the recent earthquake.

OFID has extended previous assistance to LRBT with a US$100,000 grant that helped cover the cost of imported equipment for its ophthalmology hospital in the province of Punjab.