Saudi Arabia’s KSrelief helps 7,000 Sri Lankans through blindness prevention program

• 7,000 Sri Lankans examined, treated under KSrelief’s Saudi Noor initiative
• Health scheme reached many people in remote parts of island country

COLOMBO: Thousands of people in Sri Lanka have benefited from a blindness prevention program launched by the Saudi aid agency KSrelief, as the project seeks to tackle vision loss in the island nation.

The Saudi Noor Volunteer Program, run between Sept. 6 and 16, was organized by KSrelief in the towns of Walasmulla and Kattankudy — both located hundreds of kilometers away from the capital Colombo — according to the Saudi Embassy in Sri Lanka.

The program was aimed at “alleviating the suffering of many people with blindness,” the Saudi Ambassador to Sri Lanka Khalid bin Hamoud Al-Qahtani told Arab News.

“The project includes diagnosing thousands of cases, providing medical services to them, and sorting cases that need surgical intervention,” the envoy said.

Some patients had their cataracts removed while others were given treatment and medication. Around 2,000 were also given spectacles and lenses to address their visual impairment issues.

As the treatments were free for those who needed the help, many benefited from the program. In less than two weeks, the medical work reached 7,000 people, around 1,000 of them requiring surgery.

“Those affected by partial blindness are from remote villages, and they cannot afford to pay the exorbitant hospital charges,” M. S. M. Thassim, director general of KSrelief’s local partner the Association of Muslim Youths of Seylan, told Arab News on Monday.

“With this assistance, they are able to do their normal work as usual,” Thassim said.

“The program is good because Saudi Arabia gives sight to those who are badly in need of it.”