Pakistani Citizens Looking at the World through Sri Lankan eyes

Muhammad Rizwan, a young man from Balochistan, suffering from weakness of the pupil of the eye since childhood, was very happy when he learned that instead of suffering the pain of losing sight for the rest of his life, he could see the colors of the world by undergoing an operation on the pupil of the eye. It is possible and for this, he will not have to spend a single rupee.

The guarantor of Rizwan's hopes was the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Pakistan, which plays a central role in implanting eyes donated by Sri Lankan citizens to deserving people in Pakistan. During the last few years, about 85 people have been successfully operated on eyes procured from Sri Lanka to restore their sight in Pakistan. Three hospitals in Punjab, Bahawalpur with NOC of 'Human Organ Transplant Authority'. Eye operations are carried out in Victoria Hospital, Mughal Eye Hospital Lahore, and DHQ Hospital Gujranwala with the support of the Sri Lankan High Commission, as a result of which Pakistani citizens can see the world through the eyes donated by citizens of their friendly country.

Buddhists in Sri Lanka make a bequest during their lifetime that their eyes be donated to the needy after their death. When a citizen suffers an accident or medical death, his family members inform the Sri Lankan Eye Bank within an hour, which retrieves and preserves the eyes of the deceased. It takes 72 hours to transfer the eye from Sri Lanka to Pakistan and operate the patient. In the year 2023, 35 eyes have been donated to Pakistan so far. Around the month of August, the eyes of five Sri Lankan citizens between the ages of 34 and 53 were donated at Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur.

On this mission of sending eyes to Pakistan, the important role of Iftikhar Aziz, a well-known businessman in Sri Lanka, who has created a foundation called 'Giving Sites' in Sri Lanka, which has been under the 'Cornea Diplomacy' between Pakistan and Sri Lanka for the past several decades. Organizes eye donation for Pakistani citizens. Iftikhar Aziz says that the Government of Pakistan has also awarded him with a medal of service in 2016 in recognition of his services and he is engaged in the service sector by carrying forward this commitment. Sri Lankan people have a lot of love for their Pakistani brothers and in this spirit, they will work as much as possible for the visually impaired.

Professor Dr. Sofia Farrokh, head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur, said that one of the causes of macular degeneration is family marriage, in which this disease can be passed on naturally. Whereas, due to a certain type of allergy, when a person constantly rubs his eyes and does not get it treated in time, there is a possibility of his cornea becoming ineffective. Apart from this, if something gets into the eye, the pupil can also be lost due to infection.

Sometimes the patient approaches an experienced or less experienced doctor and due to lack of proper treatment, the retina becomes dysfunctional. He further informed that a few people were successfully operated on free of cost last month by removing the pupils from the eyes given by Sri Lanka. If the same operation is carried out in a private hospital, then one doll costs at least four and a half lakh rupees. He said that puppets also come to him from America.

So far 340 people have been operated in his department while 178 applications are still pending with him. In Pakistan, the practice of donating eyes is very rare. Dr. Sophia, related to the Eye Bank established in Faisalabad at the government level, said that there have been reports about removing the eyes of some abandoned corpses and transplanting them to needy patients. Wherever there are banks, they are inactive.

In June 2021, the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Pakistan appointed Yasin Joya as the Honorary Consul General of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in Lahore. He is a journalist by profession, but for his services to humanity, this is one of Sri Lanka's highest public honors. On the basis of efforts to repatriate the body of Sri Lankan citizen 'Priyantha Kumara' who lost his life in a tragic incident in a factory in Sialkot a few years ago and announced financial assistance to his family, the Sri Lankan government has honored him.

Yasin Joya's mission is to provide as much treatment as possible to visually impaired people in Pakistan who cannot afford expensive treatment. In this effort, he considers himself somewhat successful because through “eye diplomacy”, he has so far arranged for 85 Pakistanis to receive free eye treatment. He said that he wants this donation of eyes to continue reaching the citizens of Pakistan without discrimination.

Yasin Joya says that even now he has applications from around 450 people but he is receiving about seven or eight eyes as a donation from Sri Lanka in a month. Efforts are being made to arrange eyes for all these people as soon as possible. He has demanded the government of Pakistan build an 'eye bank' in Pakistan where the eyes of people who have died in Pakistan who have bequeathed to donate their eyes can be saved and the eyes of the deserving people can be saved at the time of need. Sight can be restored.