Courtesy The International News

The Lions of Pakistan (Lions Club Pakistan) on Tuesday handed over three more corneas donated by Sri Lankan Eye Donation Society to the administration of the Spencer Eye Hospital of Lyari for corneal transplants at a ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and Senior Director Health and Medical Services Dr Birbal Genani of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

Corneal transplants resumed at the Spencer Eye Hospital after 15 years of suspension in February this year when a team of eye surgeons led by Dr Birbal Genani grafted four corneas to patients who had lost their eyes due to disease and accidents.

Today, we have received three more corneas from Sri Lanka, thanks to the Lions of Pakistan, who have helped the KMC to resume corneal grafting at this facility after years of suspension,” Mayor Akhtar said while speaking at the ceremony to receive the corneas from the Lions Club officials at the hospital.

Abukar Karim and Arshad Islam of the Lions Club handed over the three corneas to the hospital administration, vowing that their cooperation with the hospital would continue to help more people regain their eyesight.

Four patients who underwent corneal grafting at the hospital last month were also present on the occasion and thanked both the hospital’s management and the Lions Club for enabling them to see the world again.

Speaking at the ceremony, the mayor said it was a happy day for Karachiites that corneal grafting had been resumed at the Spencer Eye Hospital after 15 years and three more people would be able to regain eyesight tomorrow after four patients who underwent transplant surgery last month.

Lions Club is helping us in improving facilities at this hospital and, in the days to come, this hospital would once again be the best eye hospital in the city and country,” he maintained.

Speaking to media persons on the occasion, the mayor warned that the city could face water issues in the coming summer and urged the provincial government to take up this issue at the earliest before it got worse and went out of the control of authorities.

The people of Karachi are suffering, but the government is not paying any heed to the issues facing the masses. I would urge them to resolve the issues of Karachi, which are hurting everybody in the city,” he added.

Responding to the doctors’ protest at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital over the non-payment of salaries, he said the KMC was facing an acute shortage of funds and as soon as they got money from the government, they would pay the salaries of the doctors.

Dr Genani said it was a glad moment for the people of Karachi as they were having the corneal transplant facility back at the Spencer’s Eye Hospital free of charge, saying they were now offering state of the art eye surgeries at the institution.

He said the hospital was one of the leading health facilities in the region where people from across Pakistan and even from Afghanistan used to come to avail medical services, but due to negligence it lost its importance and glory in the recent years.

But now we have revived the glory of this hospital by restarting corneal transplants and Phaco surgery. We are providing these services as well as medicines free of charge with the help of philanthropists, but we need government support to make it a world-class facility once again,” he maintained.