With the rising population and an increase in average age, the number of cataract patients is increasing in the country, said Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital on Wednesday. The population is also growing rapidly, as is the number of people with diabetes, which is also pushing up the rate of the disease, said Brig. (R) Prof. Dr. Sabihuddin, Head of the Cataract Department at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi. He informed that because cataract is an age-related degeneration, it cannot be controlled and that it is completely incorrect that the symptoms return after surgery. According to Prof. Dr. Sabihuddin, the government should come forward, support all such initiatives, and strengthen the eye departments in all state-run hospitals, including those established at the district level, as the increasing number of patients cannot be handled by the current facilities. He advised that it should be operated on only when it matures and eyesight becomes too low to perform normal activities. However, he added that before deciding on cataract surgery, an opinion from an ophthalmologist must be sought. He added that Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital has thirty air-conditioned operation theatres, twenty-five expert doctors, six anaesthetists, and state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities, and almost 90 to 100 surgeries are performed daily. He added that surgical camps are frequently organized in the far-flung areas under the outreach programme and almost 100 surgeries are conducted on a daily basis. “We have the best facilities and doctors to treat the complicated cases,” he said, adding that ophthalmology and cataract surgery are the largest departments of the hospital, which provide specialized care to patients with different eye diseases. The department deals with 60% of the patients. The main objective of this department is to treat cataracts. It also treats all simple and complicated types of lens diseases, and patients are referred to other departments for further treatment. Prof. Dr. Sabihuddin said that those who can afford it do not need to go abroad for laser treatment, as Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital has all the latest technologies and expertise available at cheaper rates. For bladeless surgeries, we have Femto machines and laser experts. Femto LASIK is one of the most efficient and advanced bladeless laser eye treatments. The surgeon can easily correct refractive errors using this procedure. For the removal of glasses, Al Shifa is also using intra-ocular lenses through LASIK technology, and our Advanced Refractive Laser Center offers the latest solution for vision correction. Now everyone can get rid of glasses permanently with a quick and pain-free procedure. It is pertinent to mention that Al Shifa eye hospitals in Rawalpindi, Sukkar, Kohat, Muzaffarabad, and Chakwal are performing 50 thousand cataract Surgeries free of cost every year. So far, the trust has completed 1 million surgeries since the start of the Cataract Department, he said. Govt should step up as existing facilities insufficient to handle influx of eye patients he concluded.