Rural eye surgery experience of a non-governmental organization [NGO] in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

We discuss the problem of curable blindness in Pakistan, and present our experience with a Non-Government Organization [NGO] by adopting a fundamentally different approach to ensure quality care in eye surgery, free of cost to the patient, in Pakistani villages. A three tier program, which is being implemented in some villages for the last three years, was followed in order to a] increase the number of cataract extractions by operating in selected villages for six months, and thereafter by construction of small hospitals which operate throughout the year; b] ensure a high standard of safety by the use of fully equipped air-conditioned mobile and static operation theaters manned by permanently employed and adequately qualified and experienced surgical and ancillary staff, whose quality care through adoption of recognized techniques and proper closure of operation wounds allows immediate ambulation of the patient, and provides a basis for the future day-care surgery; and c] establish a referral system with a [Base Hospital] for complicated cases