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RAWALPINDI, Jan 20 (APP):The Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital has raised about Rs35 million at a fundraising dinner to support its free and subsidised eye care services across Pakistan.
The event, titled ‘Noor Phir Sey’ and held at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts in Islamabad, combined charitable appeals with cultural and Sufi music performances and drew participation from corporate donors, philanthropists and members of civil society, a Trust spokesperson said on Tuesday. Several attendees also pledged to donate their eyes posthumously.
President of Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Major General (retd) Rehmat Khan, thanked individual and corporate donors for their support and said sustained philanthropy was vital to tackling preventable blindness in the country.
He said the Trust had expanded from treating about 25 patients a day in its early years to nearly 5,000 patients daily over the past three decades.
Rehmat Khan said the Trust’s cross-subsidisation model enabled paying patients to finance free treatment for those unable to afford care, adding that nearly 80 percent of the patients received free treatment at its hospitals in Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Kohat, Sukkur, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit. He said the Lahore Eye Hospital was expected to begin operations by 2027.
He also said construction of the Haveli Lakha facility had been completed and that it would be inaugurated during the Holy Month of Ramazan. The project cost Rs162 million, including Rs122 million for construction and Rs40 million for medical equipment.
Notable donors included Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Askari Bank, the Bank of Punjab, the Rupani Foundation, Dr Tahira Idrees and Group Captain Imtiaz Ali Khan.
Pakistan’s blindness rate has declined from 1.78 percent in 1990 to about 0.5 percent today, a reduction health experts partly attribute to expanded access to cataract surgery and earlier diagnosis. They say much visual impairment remains avoidable, but rising costs and limited facilities continue to strain rural households.
The funds raised through Noor Phir Sey would be used to expand surgical capacity, outreach programmes and subsidised treatment in underserved regions, the spokesperson said.