Free eye service restores poor people´s vision

A free medical service held in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) recently has restored sight to some blind and partially sighted people.

A volunteer from the Bangladesh National Society for the Blind prepares a patient for an operation

Aung Kyow Ma Marma, 75, was one of the many poor people who benefited from the free “eye camp,” jointly organized by Caritas Bangladesh and the Bangladesh National Society for the Blind (BNSB). BNSB is a volunteer organization that provides free eye treatment for the poor.

“I´m so happy and grateful to Caritas and the BNSB doctors who brought my sight back,” the tribal Buddhist widow told UCA News. “I don´t know how to express my gratitude to them, I can only bless them.”

Marma had been blind for 10 years due to cataracts. But an operation by a 10-member medical team from BNSB on Nov. 20 restored her sight.

“I was afraid of an operation, so I did not go to a doctor. But when Caritas told me about the camp and after reassurances from them and my neighbor, I overcame my fear,” she said.

It was the first such free service provided by the BNSB in the remote Rajasthali sub-district of Rangamati district. It was also the first such service initiated and supported by the local Caritas Integrated Community Development Program (ICDP).

At least 455 people received treatment from the medical team, which included four doctors.

Doctors performing an eye operation

The service was the brainchild of local Caritas ICDP health officer, Latin, 36, a tribal Rakhain Buddhist. She said many poor people have asked Caritas to provide assistance for various illnesses since the Church agency first started working in the region in 2002. Many of them who approached Caritas had eye problems, she said.

Another patient Abul Kalam, 62, a Muslim, was partially sighted for over eight years. He could not see anything clearly, even in daylight, before undergoing a free cataract operation and lens transplant by the BNSB medical team.

“This camp organized by Caritas and BNSB is nothing short of a miracle for me,” he told UCA News.

One of the doctors, Rafiqul Islam, said it was important for people not to neglect eye problems, especially in small children, as a small complication can grow worse if left untreated.

The team is to return to Rajasthali next month to check on the progress of their patients.