The gift of sight

KPJ Pusat Pakar Mata Centre for Sight (KPJ CFS) celebrated World Sight Day (WSD) by helping 20 underprivileged individuals regain/improve their sight. The initiative fell in line with this year’s WSD theme – “Make Vision Count”. The centre also generously took up the eye care tab for 10 elderly patients needing cataract surgeries besides donating prescriptive spectacles to 10 children.
According to KPJ CFS clinical director Dr Norazlina Bachik, it’s a norm for the centre to raise public awareness on eye problems, eye care and possible solutions every World Sight Day.
WORRYING STATISTICS
Norazlina also divulged some worrying statistics. “According to the national eye survey of 2014, about 1.2%of those in their 50s and above are blind. The top three causes are cataract, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, with cataract, the leading cause of age-related vision impairment in Malaysia.”
Adding to her statement was KPJ Healthcare Berhad president and managing director Datuk Amiruddin Abdul Satar, who said: “Research on global blindness and vision impairment revealed that currently there are over 285 million people in the world who are visually impaired. More than seven million become blind every year; every five seconds, one person in the world goes blind; and a child goes blind every minute.”
SETTING SIGHTS
Even though figures are alarming and sight is of great importance, Norazlina, she and Kuala Lumpur Mayor Tan Sri Mhd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz agreed that lack of awareness and financial burden were the two main hindrances to improving eyesight. Other factors include lack of awareness and fear of surgery.
At the recent WSD event hosted by KPJ CFS, the mayor congratulated the centre on its efforts. “This selfless act of helping the elderly regain their sight (since 2006), is an excellent and noble example of KPJ Group’s community outreach undertakings.
“As many of the recipients are from Wilayah Persekutuan, we are grateful for this support,” he said. KPJ Centre for Sight is now reaching out to the young people of Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas. There is still much to be done in reducing the number of cases related to blindness.
“We acknowledge that the road in providing the necessary eye care to reduce the number of avoidable blindness is a long one.
“However, we trust with the support and involvement of everyone, we can reach more people in less time,” said Amiruddin. For more information, visit KPJ CFS’ website.