抖阴短视频

COLOMBO: Hundreds of Sri Lankan patients are set to receive eye surgery and specialist care this week under a blindness prevention program launched by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.

The Saudi Noor Volunteer Program, running between Nov. 4 and 9, is organized by KSrelief in the town of Walasmulla on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka, hundreds of kilometers away from the capital Colombo. On Nov. 10-17, the campaign will move to the city of Kattakundy, further east.

Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness in Sri Lanka. Patients often have to wait for years to have them removed under government programs. At private clinics, the cheapest lens replacement procedure is too expensive for many patients in poorer parts of the country.

鈥淭here is big demand since poor people can鈥檛 afford surgery privately, which costs 100,000 rupees ($340) per person. There are many cataract patients in Sri Lanka but the facilities are few. There are long waiting lists for surgery,鈥� M.S.M. Thassim, chairman of the Association of Muslim Youths 鈥� KSrelief鈥檚 local partner 鈥� told Arab News.

鈥淲e are doing it in two places; the first part is Walasmulla, which is finishing on Nov. 9, and we have already completed 400 surgeries and 100 more to go. Then at Kattankudy, which begins on Nov. 10, where another 500 will be performed.鈥�

Some of the patients were already blind before the intervention of the KSrelief medical team, whose members have been praised for being 鈥減eople friendly鈥� and 鈥渃ommitted鈥� to their mission.

鈥淭he patients are full of gratitude to the Saudi government and the King Salman center for the noble intervention that restored their eyesight,鈥� Thassim said.

The two-week eye care campaign in Walasmulla and Kattakundy is part of the Saudi government鈥檚 long-standing efforts to combat blindness in developing countries.

In Sri Lanka alone, 31,000 patients have undergone Saudi-sponsored surgery since 2001.