Kerbala EYE Clinic (April, May and June 2006)

“Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing. And on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they incur.” (Holy Koran, 2:7)

One of the greatest bounties Allah gave us is eyesight. It is one of the most essential ways and means by which man perceives material reality, and thereby becomes able to perceive spiritual realities as well.

In Iraq, specialized eye care facilities are few and the cost of treatment is so high that most people cannot afford it. Especially many elderly persons suffer from severe defects of vision or partial or complete blindness due to easily curable conditions. The Karbala eye clinic was established to offer a charitable treatment facility for eye diseases to those who have no access to or cannot afford to pay for treatment in commercial facilities.

In the second quarter of 2006, 2,246 patients received treatment at the clinic. 1,760 patients had their vision checked and received eye glasses for free or at nominal cost. A further 486 patients received treatment for other eye diseases, including eye lid diseases, different forms of conjunctivitis, diseases of the cornea, diseases of the eye lens, diseases of the retina, glaucoma and other eye diseases.

1,127 patients were male and 1,119 were female. 57.3 per cent of all patients were more than forty years old, and 16.5 percent were aged between one and eighteen years. Almost 74 per cent of all patients thus belonged to especially vulnerable age groups, being either very young or advanced in age.

Restoring or improving someone’s eyesight means enabling him or her to be a useful member of society. Something as simple as providing an aged person with reading glasses can have the immense effect of enabling him/her to continue to work and provide or care for his/her family.

Let us all thank Allah for the bounty of eyesight by helping to restore it to those who are deprived of it.

April 2006

May 2006

June 2006

Statistics April to June 2006

Statistics January to July 2006