Orbis offers services to save sight

The pre-term and low birth weight babies are usually prone to developing Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) ultimately leading to blindness if not screened and treated within one month of their birth, experts said Tuesday.
They also said some 3.75 million children are born every year in Bangladesh, of whom birth weight of around 25,000 stands at 1.5 kg or below and the number is increasing.
At present 19 million children are visually impaired in the world and 1.4 million of them are blind. One child becomes blind in every minute in the world.
Orbis International Bangladesh Programme has taken an initiative for the first time in the country to provide ROP services to save sights of the vulnerable babies, said   Orbis International Country Director Dr Munir Ahmed.
He said treatment will be provided to the premature and low birth weight babies at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) with the support of Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital (IIEI&H).
Dr Munir mentioned that the initiative would be expanded to other NICUs in government and selected private hospitals in phases while an agreement in this regard was signed between DMCH and IIEI&H at DMCH Conference room Tuesday.
Adviser of IIE&IH Zahida Ispahani said they are committed to serving babies of the poor families free of cost who visit NICU at DMCH for ROP services.
Director of DMCH Brig Gen Mustafizur Rahman thanked Orbis International and IIEI&H for the noble initiative for starting screening and treatment services on ROP.
Experts called upon all to come forward to reduce ROP hoping that Orbis International's initiative would contribute to removing childhood blindness. This kind of Public Private Partnership would reduce childhood blindness in the country, they expressed the hope.