:: Xinhuanet China- :: Oculists badly needed in Nepal

www.chinaview.cn 2004-10-14 13:58:17

KATHMANDU, Oct. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- As the world celebrates Oct. 14 as the day for restoring the vision of thousands of visually impaired, health authorities in Nepal are also marking the day with the pledge to restore the vision of its blind populace withinthe year 2020.

According to a report from Nepal Netrajyoti Sangh, a non-governmental organization that has been rendering eye care services in different parts of the country, three in every 100 people are either blind or visually impaired in Nepal.

Nearly 80 percent patients could get back their eye sight if provided timely treatment, said the report.

But the dearth of doctors and timely medical intervention has forced nearly 130,000 Nepalis to live in darkness, nearly 90 percent of them live in the far-flung villages, a famous Nepalese doctor told Xinhua Thursday.

The main reasons of blindness are cataract, trachoma, lack of Vitamin A and infection in the injured eye, said Dr. Harish Chandra Shah.

Among the eye patients, 71 percent are suffering from cataract,which can be treated through simple surgery.

Currently, treatment is being provided through 16 hospitals in Nepali cities with only 110 oculists to the population of 22.4 million, Shah said.

And among them, 20 percent are working outside the country. As the remaining experts are concentrated in the capital of the country, the people living in the villages have been deprived of eye care facilities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to conduct programs with the slogan "Sight is the Right of All" till 2020. Nepal has also made commitments to the slogan being a member country of the WHO.

Officials at Nepal Netrajyoti Sangh said that they had been receiving 2 million Nepali rupees (25,873 US dollars) donation from the government to conduct its activities. Sphere: Related Content