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Act Now if You Don’t Want to Enter the World of Darkness

“Glaucoma leads to blindness caused by damage to the optic nerve. It is a kind of blood pressure for the eye,” explains Dr Lama Al Aswad, Assistant Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at Columbia University Medical Centre in the United States.

Dr Lama is among the several visiting doctors from abroad who are taking part in the first phase of the ambitious Noor Dubai project.

“There is no cure for glaucoma. If Abbas does not start managing his eye disease now, he may lose his sight,” she says, adding that laser, medication and sometimes surgery could help manage the recurring disease.

The first phase of the ambitious charity initiative Noor Dubai is only half through, but the response to the drive remains phenomenal. With a target of treating one million people for reversible blindness worldwide, the initiative is still receiving thousands of applications daily, and hundreds of patients have already been treated.

For this week alone, a total of 27 surgeries (for both eyes) have been lined up by Dr Lama, who is seeing patients at the overflowing Noor Dubai outpatient clinic twice a week and operating three days. “This week, we may have to operate on a Friday as well due to the huge number of patients,” she says. Dr Anjum Pathan, ophthalmologist in Dubai Hospital, says that the majority of cases are children who have just been diagnosed with eye diseases. “We will examine them and then decide what the next step will be,” she adds.

Unlike Abbas, the young Sudanese student, Aisha Mohammed, who was born and brought up in Dubai, was a victim of a botched surgery.

“I was born with a dying vision,” she explains. However, surgeries were done in a local hospital to correct the vision. “Though sight was restored in the left eye, the doctors messed up the right one,” she explains, adding that vision was rapidly fading.

“When I learnt of this, I felt useless, and hopeless. Groping around to do my day to day work was not my idea of life until now. Noor Dubai has given me hope. Doctors say they are ready to operate again and restore some sight in my eye. I am waiting for the surgery now,” she says.

Like Abbas and Aisha, thousands of people and their families worldwide have pinned their hopes on Noor Dubai. While several have not been able to afford the treatments, others did not get the right opportunity.

Dr Manal Taryam, President of Emirates Ophthalmic Society and president of the medical team for the project, agrees that the response has been overwhelming.

“We receive thousands of applications daily, but we have to screen them carefully since we cannot give false hope to people,” she explains.

The Director-General of Dubai Health Authority (DHA), Qadhi Al Murooshid, who is also incharge of the programme, said that the authority had received thousands of medical reports from countries such as Djibouti, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Eritrea, Mali and Pakistan. The medical reports include cases of visual impairment due to burns as well other severe eye diseases.

Reports of at least 100 UAE nationals from all over the country have also been received. Currently, all these reports are being sorted out to point out the most deserving,” said Al Murooshid. Of the hundreds of patients from 14 countries treated till now, 60 per cent have been minor cases requiring only eye drops, glasses and medication.

“We have 100 per cent success with the operations,” says Dr Manal. “The majority of the cases have been children, mainly suffering from the ‘lazy eye’ (condition in which the brain does not accept the visual messages sent to it),” explains Dr Manal. Among the other surgeries carried out were restoration of eye sight and alignment of eyes, especially in children (cross-eyed).

Noor Dubai was launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai on September 3 with the aim of treating and providing health services to people suffering from treatable blindness and visual impairment in developing countries on a local, regional and international scale.

NOOR DUBAI’S GESTURE

In the fight against blindness, Noor Dubai is taking care of all medical and living expenses of the patients and their escorts while seeking treatment in Dubai. Noor Dubai works with two charitable eye organisations, Lions Clubs International and Orbis International, and locally Dubai Health Authority is mandated with the responsibility of implementing the project.

Peter Lynch, Executive Director, Lions Club International, said, “Since 1990, we have been involved in the fight against blindness by constructing eye clinics in under-served countries and organising large-scale treatment programmes for cataract, corneal blindness and preventable eye diseases such as trachoma.”

Meanwhile, the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital is helping launch the Noor Dubai educational component. Geoffrey Holland, Executive Director and CEO of ORBIS International says, “The flying eye hospital is available to work in all countries, and our experience in delivering long-term, sustainable blindness prevention projects is fully at the disposal of the Noor Dubai programme.”

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE