Sadiqullah Khan, Surriaya Zaman, Muhammad Ishaq, Nasir Saeed.
Free Eye Camp - a Powerful tool for Eliminating Avoidable Blindness in the Third World Countries.
Ophthalmol Update Jan ;15(3):258-60.

Background: Age related cataracts is the most common cause of blindness in the third world. 14,000 new patients with cataract appear every day as the eye diseases are common in the under privileged communities. The major reasons of eye problems in these societies are illiteracy, poverty and unawareness of the modern facilities in the prevention of eye ailments. One of the best ways to approach these communities is to provide treatment facilities closer to their dwellings. Aim: In order to reduce the burden of visual impairment and blindness is to provide the health facilities through holding eye camps close to their vicinity as these masses have little access to the benefits of modern treatment. Though we collected the date of complete health problems, but we will discuss only visual disabilities. We desired to provide high quality surgery by using state-of-the-art technology resulting early visual recovery and improved quality of life. Materials & Methods: Free eye camps were established in the village schools in districts of Peshawar. Complete protocol was followed for examination of male and female patients. In most of the cases extra-capsular lens extraction was performed with implantation of intraocular lens (IOL). In some cases phacoemulsification was preferred over open surgery. Results: In 17 eye camps 10983 individuals availed the facility, amongst them, 725 patients were referred to our tertiary care hospital for further detailed evaluation of their condition. The incidence of cataract was 7.0% in both adults and children. Thus as a total 42% of the patients referred for surgery from the camps came to the tertiary care hospital for surgery while the remaining 68% did not care for the treatment. Conclusion: Eight percent (8%) of our adult population was suffering from cataract with the females outnumbering the males as they are found to be less privileged to avail the treatment opportunities. The methodology of organizing eye camps in remote areas as a very effective source of providing solution to their sufferings.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com