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Tribune News Network
Doha
TWO Qatari doctors from the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) witnessed first-hand the life-changing work of the Qatar Creating Vision (QCV) initiative in Pune and Madurai, India, recently.
The QCV, funded by the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and implemented by Orbis, was established in 2015 to provide free eye tests and treatment to children in India and Bangladesh.
To date, the number of screenings provided has reached over 3.6 million. Around 179,000 pairs of eyeglasses have been prescribed to children and a further 1,100 surgeries have taken place. Through the programme, over 45,000 individuals have been trained on eye health. In addition to ophthalmologists and community health workers, the training has also been provided to teachers, government officials, community and religious leaders.
Ali Abdulla al Dabbagh, deputy director-general for planning at QFFD, commented:"By engaging the MoPH and HMC, we have the opportunity to combine QFFD's financial contribution and the State of Qatar's technical skills and experience to tackle avoidable blindness. Through this partnership, we are able to help many more children across India and Bangladesh. The positive insights shared by Dr Faisal Naqadan and Dr Mohammed al Hajri will be instrumental in future activities."
Dr Hajri, who is the director of emergency preparedness and response at the MoPH, said the visit to India was a unique and important experience. He commented on the initiative's dedication to reaching children in the most rural places.
"My area of expertise is disaster relief and responding to emergency situations. The visit with the QFFD was a unique and important experience. I had the opportunity to witness a programme built for sustainability and was impressed by the collaborative efforts of Orbis, the local partner hospitals, and the schools," said Dr Hajri.
While in India, both Dr Hajri and Dr Naqadan, from HMC's Ophthalmology Department, visited the Refractive Error Among Children (REACH) programme. The programme, which is one of India's largest eye screening programmes, aims not only to identify children with refractive errors but also to provide them with prescription eyeglasses and surgeries when required.
"As an ophthalmologist, I was impressed by the passion, level of care and professionalism I witnessed. This is a unique programme and I am very happy to see how the combined expertise of the QFFD and Orbis is changing so many lives in India and Bangladesh," said Dr Naqadan.
Following a request by QFFD, Orbis recently expanded the work it does in Bangladesh to devise a programme to help the Rohingya people, and those within the local host community, who are struggling with vision loss.
Since February 2018, Orbis has worked with local partners in Bangladesh to screen almost 25,000 Rohingya people, carry out 413 surgeries and prescribe nearly 8,000 treatments. The number of treatments required has been higher than originally expected with most being severe cases; the majority of Rohingya people have never had access to eye care.
