COMSTECH-LRBT Team to host Eye Clinic in Niger

Islamabad, 27 January 2022 (TDI): (COMSTECH): COMSTECH and Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT) has scheduled eye camps for cataract surgeries and training workshops in Niamey, Niger. The arrangement has been made in collaboration with Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the Pakistani mission in Niger.

The camps will be working from January 31 to February 07, 2022. The news was shared by Professor Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, the Coordinator-General of COMSTECH. He stated that a seven-member team of trained ophthalmologists from LRBT, Pakistan was selected for the task.

During its visit, the team will conduct examinations of post-operation patients, execute more than 400 cataract surgeries, as well as a workshop for training local doctors on cataract surgery with phacoemulsification.

The workshop will be conducted using the operation theater along with other facilities available at the tertiary hospital of Niamey. The Pakistani team will also establish a public awareness drive about eye health and will visit local schools as well.

All the medicines and consumables for these eye camps will be transported from Pakistan. Moreover, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal expressed that a COMSTECH and LRBT team visited Niamey during the third week of November last year.

They also conducted 25 cataract surgeries, serviced and repaired all the faulty equipment, and made it available for screening and cataract surgeries at that time. He further reiterated that the Niger authorities are elated with the performance of the COMSTECH-LRBT team.

In addition, they have also requested regular visits of the ophthalmologists to undertake eye surgeries. These visits will be a part of COMSTECH’s program of health and higher education for the African continent.

The program includes various programmes for capacity building in the fields of ophthalmology, neurology, dermatology, and telemedicine for the benefit of African people. the objective of the programme is to provide post-operative treatment, free high-quality sight-restoring cataract surgeries, and build the capacity of local health professionals during the campaign to identify eye problems, provide care,  and screen.

This procedure will also include treatment as well as referral along with the training of ophthalmologists on the Phaco alternative. Abdul Haleem Asghar, who is looking after COMSTECH Africa program along with Murtaza Noor, Media Advisor COMSTECH also attended the press conference.

LRBT is the largest NGO in Pakistan that is striving to fight blindness along with transforming lives. Whilst the COMSTECH is an OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation that is headquartered in Islamabad.

The objective of COMSTECH is to improve scientific as well as technological collaboration amongst the OIC member states to achieve socio-economic expansion in the Muslim world.