Eye treatment program is co-funded by KSrelief and Al-Basar International Foundation Over 10 days, free diagnostic tests and surgical procedures are provided in Kabul KABUL: A Saudi-funded medical campaign is underway in Kabul, providing treatment to 10,000 Afghans needing eye surgery and specialist care. The treatment program is organized by the Afghan Red Crescent Society at the ARCS Central Hospital in Kabul, running between Oct. 22 and Nov. 1. It is funded by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and Al-Basar International Foundation — a Saudi-based NGO providing eye healthcare and visual rehabilitation to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities around the world. An ARCS representative told Arab News that patients have arrived to the Central Hospital from provinces as far as Helmand, Kandahar and Balkh. “The Afghan Red Crescent Society in collaboration with Al-Basar International Foundation and KSrelief organize the free eye treatment camp in Kabul that will last for 10 days, until Nov. 1,” he said. “The ARCS made a public announcement across the country, so that patients from different provinces could come to Kabul and get treated by foreign doctors. The services are provided to men and women patients in the ARCS Central Hospital.” The patients receive outpatient services, medicine, glasses and undergo surgery services entirely free of charge. “We plan to do 1,000 eye surgeries and more than 10,000 patient screenings,” Al-Basar representative Rizwan Ahmed Baloch told Arab News. “We plan to do these camps in other parts of the country as well as building a fully equipped eye hospital.” Of Afghanistan’s 43 million population, more than 400,000 are blind and another 1.5 million are visually impaired, according to the World Health Organization. About 60 percent of blindness cases are caused by cataracts — a condition that can be treated with simple eye surgery, but medical facilities are not always available. “With the current medical facilities available in Afghanistan, around 15,000 eye operations are conducted across the country annually. There are about 130 eye specialists across the country, most located in big cities,” said Dr. Mohammad Yousaf Taib, a public health expert in Kabul. “The health services package under the health ministry does not include dedicated posts for eye specialists at provincial hospitals, depriving some provinces from specialized eye treatment services. In remote areas, these services are almost nonexistent.”