Pakistani NGO conducts eye operations

Hundreds of people in the Central African Republic (CAR) have undergone operations since Monday when a visiting Pakistani medical team began free eye treatment in the capital, Bangui. "We have already operated on some 600 people for cataract and other eye-related ailments," Dr Khalil Ahmed Lako, the head of the medical team, told IRIN on Wednesday. The Pakistan-based NGO, Al Bazar, is working in partnership with a local NGO, the Agency for Muslims of Africa (AMA), to provide eye treatment mostly for the poor. The Al Bazar team, working from the Centre National Hospitalier Universitaire de Bangui, is due to complete its visit on Friday. A team from Al Bazar first came into the country two years ago. "Al Bazar is a medical NGO dedicated to providing free treatment for blindness across the world, particularly among the poor," Muktar-Ahmed Mustapha, a representative for AMA, told IRIN on Wednesday. He said an announcement was made on the state-owned Radio Centrafrique on 1 October when the Al Bazar team arrived, inviting people with eye problems to turn up for consultations. "We have sophisticated medical equipment, which enable us to obtain results after diagnosis and tests in few minutes," Lako said. Lako said consultation, treatment, surgery and supply of corrective lenses for short-sightedness were free of charge. In CAR, particularly in the western and northwestern provinces of Ouham and Ouham-Pende, hundreds of people suffer from blindness caused by cataract and another disease known as Onchocerciasis, also called river blindness. Another cause of blindness in this area is the use of chemical products, especially insecticides and fertilisers, for fishing. Some fishermen pour these toxic products into rivers to kill the fish before going in to collect their catch. The toxicity of these products often damage eyes irreparably. People with eye ailments or blindness search for treatment in Bangui, but often cannot afford the cost of consultation and treatment. In addition, their families, especially children and the elderly, at times face hunger because the breadwinners go blind. The country's health officials and several NGOs have been sensitising people against using insecticides or fertilisers to fish.