Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) will provide eye treatment for premature and low birth-weight babies of poor families at free of cost to save them from blindness.
The treatment will be given at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the hospital with the support of Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital (IIEI&H).
The DMCH and IIEI&H signed a Voluntary Free Service agreement at the DMCH conference room in this regard on Tuesday.
Director of IIEI&H Dr Alamgir Hossain and Director of DMCH Brig Gen Md Mustafizur Rahman signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.
Orbis International, an international NGO, will provide technical support for the treatment.
It may be mentioned that presently 19 millions children in the world are visually impaired. Of them, 1.4 million are blind. One child goes blind in every minute in the world.
Experts say some 37.50 lakh children are born in every year in Bangladesh with the weight of 25,000 of them at birth 1.5 kg or below which is increasing.
The pre-term and low birth weight babies are usually prone to developing Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). These babies may go blind if timely screening and treatment were not provided between 20-30 days of their birth.
Addressing the agreement signing ceremony, country director of Orbis International Dr Munir Ahmed said considering this reality, Orbis International has taken the initiative for the first time in the country to provide ROP services to prevent blindness and save sights of the unfortunate babies.
He also mentioned that the initiative will be expanded to other NICUs in government and selected private hospitals in phases.
Adviser of IIE&IH Zahida Ispahani said they are committed to serve babies of the poor families at free of cost who visit NICU at DMCH for ROP service.
Director of DMCH Brig Gen Md Mustafizur Rahman thanked Orbis International and IIEI&H for their noble initiative for starting screening and treatment services on ROP at the DMCH.
DMCH Principal Prof Dr Md Ismail Khan called upon all to come forward to reduce ROP hoping that Orbis International’s initiative would contribute removing childhood blindness.
Prof Dr Maksudul Islam, Head of the Department of Ophthalmology of DMCH, hoped that this kind of Public Private Partnership would bring impact in reducing childhood blindness in the country.
Among others, Vice-principal Dr Md Shafiqul Alam Chowdhury, Prof Dr Md Abid Hossain Mollah, Prof Dr M Ekhlasur Rahman and Dr Md Tafazzal Hossain Khan of DMCH, CEO Dr Michael Charles and Dr Nazmun Nahar of IIEI&H, Programme Director Mohammed Alauddin, Regional Programme Manager Dr Nurullah and Programme Manager Dr Fayazul Islam of Orbis International were present on the occasion.
Source: UNB Connect
