Prevention of Blindness Trust

Last updated
Prevention of Blindness Trust
AbbreviationPOB Trust, POB
Formation2000
TypeFree Eye Care Registered Trust
Legal statusRegistered Trust under Trust act of Pakistan. Tax Exempted.
Headquarters Lahore
Location
Coordinates 31°29′48″N74°15′56″E / 31.496607°N 74.265425°E / 31.496607; 74.265425
Region served
Pakistan and Worldwide 22 Countries
Official language
Urdu, English
Secretary General
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Zahid Latif
Chairman
Prof. Dr. Intzar Hussain
Main organ
eye
Parent organization
Pakistan Islamic Medical Association
AffiliationsECOSOC, WHO, [1] FIMA, FIMA Save Vision, PIMA – See [2]
Volunteers
250 Ophthalmologists
Website www.pobtrust.org

Prevention of Blindness Trust, also known as the POB Trust and POB, is a project of Pakistan Islamic Medical Association. [3] [4] Prevention Of Blindness Trust was established in July 2000 as a leading volunteer eye care organization with the sole mission of preventing blindness and preserving sight. POB Trust declared exempted from tax Federal Board of Revenue (Pakistan) [5] POB Trust endeavors to develop strategies for prevention and control of blindness and visual impairment. The prime objective of POB Trust is to promote and sustain a global campaign against all forms of avoidable blindness with emphasis on deprived communities. This initiative brings with it a great challenge and an exciting hope for all who work towards this goal. It is also a member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness for the VISION 2030: The Right to Sight. [6]

Contents

Activities

The POB Trust was registered in 2007, but the organization had been working in the field since July 2000. Until May 2024, approximately US$7.5 million had been spent on its projects of free eye care services involving 378,953 cataract surgeries of patients in 22 countries. POB Trust has been working in many areas:

  • Free Eye Camps Pakistan
  • Free Eye Camps in poor countries.
  • Higher Surgical Training [7]
  • School Eye Care Services.
  • Emergency Relief: Earth Quake, Floods, IDP's.
  • Prison Eye Care.
  • Social Activities.
  • Blind Rehabilitation Program.
  • Community Centers: Jarranwala District Faisalabad, Channan Kharian District Gujrat.
  • POB Eye Hospitals: Lahore and Karachi
  • Public Awareness Campaigns

POB Trust organizes free eye camps in remote areas of the country. Every camp lasts for 2 to 4 days according to the location. During each free eye camp, 1000-3000 patients are screened for cataracts and if diagnosed, they are referred for diagnostic tests including Hepatitis B, C Screening. Tests are performed free of cost in the camp. After passing these tests patient goes towards surgery, and about 100-300 patients undergo the surgery in three days. Cataract surgeries are done with Intraocular lens implantation with a small incision and phacoemulsification. Reading glasses and eye drops are also distributed.

Free eye camp in Faisalabad district of Punjab Pakistan Jaranwala-POB-HHRD-FreeEyeCamp-Sep2015 135.JPG
Free eye camp in Faisalabad district of Punjab Pakistan

From 2000 to May 2024, the trust has achieved the following milestones: 22 countries in Asia and Africa 1004 free eye camps. Over 24,77,005 patients were examined and treated. Over 378,953 cataract surgeries with lens implantation. Over 1.9 million pairs of reading glasses were distributed.

Partners

POB Trust worked in shared projects with many other organizations like Helping Hand for Relief & Development Pakistan (HHRD-Pakistan),paktrust.org, Akhuwat, Al Khidmat Foundation, Federation of Islamic Medical Associations Save Vision, Pakistan Islamic Medical Association and with Ministry of Health Pakistan.

POB Eye Hospitals

Lahore

POB Eye hospital Lahore Pakistan POB Eye Hospital Lahore.jpg
POB Eye hospital Lahore Pakistan

Karachi

Address: C -15 Block 12, Gulistan e Johar Near Munawar Chowrangi, Karachi. 021-34156597

Front view of POB Eye hospital Karachi Pakistan POB Eye Hospital Karachi.jpg
Front view of POB Eye hospital Karachi Pakistan

Countries of activities

POB Trust activities during this period were based in 22 countries, as follows:

Sudan, Chad, Somalia, Somali land, Nigeria, [8] [9] Mali, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, Niger, Indonesia, Cameroon, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Gambia, Gaza Palestine, [7] Bangladesh, South Africa, Maldives and Pakistan.

International Recognition

1. Richard and Hinda Rosenthal award from The Rosenthal Family Foundation is given to Dr. Pervaiz Malik on Prevention of Blindness Services recognition. Date is 24 April 2009. [10] [11]

2. Pakistan Society of Ophthalmology award in 2011 [12] ^

3. Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Outstanding service in prevention of blindness Award [13]

Research Published

1. Prevalence of Refractive Errors in a public school children of Lahore [14]
2. Private Public Mix Working Model of a Teaching Hospital, Benefits for the Organizations and End users [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ophthalmology</span> Field of medicine treating eye disorders

Ophthalmology is a clinical and surgical specialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. A former term is oculism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cataract</span> Clouding of the lens inside the eye, causing poor vision

A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision of the eye. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colours, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble with bright lights, and difficulty seeing at night. This may result in trouble driving, reading, or recognizing faces. Poor vision caused by cataracts may also result in an increased risk of falling and depression. Cataracts cause 51% of all cases of blindness and 33% of visual impairment worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farsightedness</span> Eye condition in which light is focused behind instead of on the retina

Far-sightedness, also known as long-sightedness, hypermetropia, and hyperopia, is a condition of the eye where distant objects are seen clearly but near objects appear blurred. This blur is due to incoming light being focused behind, instead of on, the retina due to insufficient accommodation by the lens. Minor hypermetropia in young patients is usually corrected by their accommodation, without any defects in vision. But, due to this accommodative effort for distant vision, people may complain of eye strain during prolonged reading. If the hypermetropia is high, there will be defective vision for both distance and near. People may also experience accommodative dysfunction, binocular dysfunction, amblyopia, and strabismus. Newborns are almost invariably hypermetropic, but it gradually decreases as the newborn gets older.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phacoemulsification</span> Method of cataract surgery

Phacoemulsification is a cataract surgery method in which the internal lens of the eye which has developed a cataract is emulsified with the tip of an ultrasonic handpiece and aspirated from the eye. Aspirated fluids are replaced with irrigation of balanced salt solution to maintain the volume of the anterior chamber during the procedure. This procedure minimises the incision size and reduces the recovery time and risk of surgery induced astigmatism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intraocular lens</span> Lens implanted in the eye to treat cataracts or myopia

An Intraocular lens (IOL) is a lens implanted in the eye usually as part of a treatment for cataracts or for correcting other vision problems such as short sightedness and long sightedness; a form of refractive surgery. If the natural lens is left in the eye, the IOL is known as phakic, otherwise it is a pseudophakic lens. Both kinds of IOLs are designed to provide the same light-focusing function as the natural crystalline lens. This can be an alternative to LASIK, but LASIK is not an alternative to an IOL for treatment of cataracts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Refractive error</span> Problem with focusing light accurately on the retina due to the shape of the eye

Refractive error is a problem with focusing light accurately on the retina due to the shape of the eye and/or cornea. The most common types of refractive error are near-sightedness, far-sightedness, astigmatism, and presbyopia. Near-sightedness results in far away objects being blurry, far-sightedness and presbyopia result in close objects being blurry, and astigmatism causes objects to appear stretched out or blurry. Other symptoms may include double vision, headaches, and eye strain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cataract surgery</span> Removal of opacified lens from the eye

Cataract surgery, also called lens replacement surgery, is the removal of the natural lens of the eye that has developed a cataract, an opaque or cloudy area. The eye's natural lens is usually replaced with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) implant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astigmatism</span> Type of eye defect

Astigmatism is a type of refractive error due to rotational asymmetry in the eye's refractive power. This results in distorted or blurred vision at any distance. Other symptoms can include eyestrain, headaches, and trouble driving at night. Astigmatism often occurs at birth and can change or develop later in life. If it occurs in early life and is left untreated, it may result in amblyopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Bath</span> First African American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention

Patricia Era Bath was an American ophthalmologist and humanitarian. She became the first female member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, the first woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, and the first woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center. Bath was the first African-American to serve as a resident in ophthalmology at New York University. She was also the first African-American woman to serve on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center. Bath was the first African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose. A holder of five patents, she founded the non-profit American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aravind Eye Hospitals</span> Network of eye hospitals in India

Aravind Eye Hospitals is a hospital chain in India. It was founded by Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy at Madurai, Tamil Nadu in 1976. It has grown into a network of eye hospitals and has had a major impact in eradicating cataract related blindness in India. As of 2012, Aravind has treated nearly 32 million patients and performed 4 million surgeries. The model of Aravind Eye Care hospitals has been applauded and has become a subject for numerous case studies across the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Govindappa Venkataswamy</span> Indian ophthalmologist

Govindappa Venkataswamy, popularly known as Dr V., was an Indian ophthalmologist who dedicated his life to eliminate needless blindness. He was the founder and former chairman of Aravind Eye Hospitals. He is best known for developing a high quality, high volume, low-cost service delivery model that has restored sight to millions of people. Since inception, Aravind Eye Care System has seen over 55 million patients, and performed over 6.8 million surgeries. Over 50% of the organisation's patients pay either nothing or highly subsidised rates. Its scale and self-sustainability prompted a 1993 Harvard Business Case Study on the Aravind model.

Al-Basar International Foundation is a non-profit international NGO based in Saudi Arabia. It was established in 1989 to work in the field of prevention and eradication/controlling of blindness & blinding diseases.

Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Trust or LRBT is Pakistan's largest non-governmental organisation, working to fight blindness in the country. It is assumed to be not only the largest eye provider in the country but also the largest eye care provider in the world to have treated over 54 million patients in 38 years. The organization treats 10,200 OPD patients every single day. Established in 1984, it is based in Karachi with hospitals and primary eye care centers throughout the country.

Howard V. Gimbel FRCSC, AOE, FACS, CABES, is a Canadian ophthalmologist, university professor, senior editor, and amateur musician. He is better known for his invention, along with Thomas Neuhann, of the continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis (CCC), a technique employed in modern cataract surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasreen & Alam Sher Foundation</span>

The Nasreen and Alam Sher Foundation, was started in February 2007, and is a United States-based organization with one major goal: to help those in need. Since its inception, the NASF has expanded in members and support worldwide. It is an organization run completely non-governmental, non-religious, non-political, and non-profit. Recognized by the United Nations, this organization was created to promote health, education, humanities, and peace in South Asian countries and beyond. The emphasis remains on human development, freedom, human rights, quality and equality of the lives of ordinary people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Arnott</span> British ophthalmologist

Eric John Arnott, MA, FRCS, FRCOphth was a British ophthalmologist and surgeon who specialized in cataracts, a condition which in many parts of the world still remains the principal cause of blindness. He is known for inventing new surgical techniques for treatment of various ophthalmological disorders, and received professional awards for his contributions.

Sheraz Daya is a British ophthalmologist. Daya founded the Centre for Sight in 1996, and works in stem-cell research and sight restoration and correction surgery.

The Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) was created in 1995 by Dr. Geoffrey Tabin and Dr. Sanduk Ruit with a goal of establishing a sustainable eye care infrastructure in the Himalaya. HCP empowers local doctors to provide ophthalmic care through skills-transfer and education. From its beginning, HCP responds to a pressing need for eye care in the Himalayan region. With programs in Nepal, Ethiopia, Ghana, Bhutan and India they have been able to restore sight to over 1.4 million people since 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bharti Kashyap</span> Indian ophthalmologist

Bharti Kashyap Navigating Health Care Reform in Jharkhand From a crusader against blindness to Cervical cancer activist the extraordinary success and figures of cervical cancer eradication campaign, eye donation awareness campaign, diabetic retinopathy screening, “Jyot Se Jyot Jalao” campaign and vision protection campaign being run in Jharkhand over the past three decades by Dr. Bharti Kashyap is a testament to the fact that she has carried out the campaigns with full devotion and dedication and has successfully achieved the set targets. Nari Shakti puruskar Awardee Dr Bharti Kashyap is an Indian ophthalmologist and great family and child welfare social worker in Jharkhand, also known as vision and Janni suraksha Lady. She is honoured with Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2017 by hon'ble president of India and is a five-time recipient of the National IMA Award for the welfare of the underprivileged section of society

Clear lens extraction (CLE), also known as refractive lensectomy, custom lens replacement (CLR) or refractive lens exchange (RLE) is a surgical procedure in which clear lens of the human eye is removed. Unlike cataract surgery, where cloudy lens is removed to treat cataract, clear lens extraction is done to surgically correct refractive errors such as high myopia. It can also be done in hyperopic or presbyopic patients who wish to have a multifocal IOL implanted to avoid wearing glasses. It is also used as a treatment for diseases such as angle closure glaucoma.

References

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  3. "Seminar on blindness: PIMA to build a hospital for free eye treatment". The Express Tribune. June 29, 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  4. "Doctors to conduct eye surgeries in Africa". The News. Pakistan. June 29, 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  5. "Prevention Of Blindness Trust (POB Trust) - Downloads". pobtrust.org. Archived from the original on 2016-06-11.
  6. "Prevention Of Blindness Trust (POB Trust) - Core Values and Strategy". pobtrust.org.
  7. 1 2 "Daily Express News Story".
  8. http://epaper.brecorder.com/2010/07/08/18-page/191321-news.html [ dead link ]
  9. "Daily Express News Story".
  10. http://fimaweb.net/cms/index.php/joomla-pages-iii/categories-list/71-projects/pob-trust/150-the-rosenthal-family-foundation
  11. "ACP: International Activities - Newsletter - July 2009". Archived from the original on 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  12. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-23. Retrieved 2015-06-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "::Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO)::". www.apaophth.org. Archived from the original on 2011-09-04.
  14. "Prevalence of Refractive Errors". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  15. "Private Public Mix Working Model". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-06-05.