In a bid to minimize the sufferings of the patients and to provide swift eye care facilities, the Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital has abolished the condition of presenting Zakat form before availing the facility of free treatment, a hospital official said Friday. Now, the needy patients would not need to present Zakat form issued by their respective union councils, said Brig (r) Rizwan Asghar, executive director of Al-Shifa Trust. He said the population explosion has also increased the number of people facing eye problems. He said the hospital has been gearing up to provide eye care facilities to as many people as possible. He said that realizing the difficulties in obtaining Zakat form, President of the Trust Lt Gen (r) Hamid Javaid has abolished the condition with immediate effect. The step has been taken to facilitate the poor, provide timely treatment facility to needy and increase the number of patients so that maximum number of people can benefit from the facility of free treatment and surgeries, he said. Brig (r) Rizwan Asghar said that all the four hospitals being run by the Al-Shifa Trust are providing healthcare facilities to 0.8 million people annually, out of whom around 80 percent avail free treatment facility. After scraping the condition of presenting Zakat form, the number of patients may jump to one million per annum, he hoped. Provision of eye care facilities to additional one hundred thousand people will add to the financial burden which would be compensated through donations, he said, adding that the trust has been serving masses for the last 25 years and will continue to expand operations to serve the maximum number of people. The Al-Shifa Trust was established with the aim of prevention and control of blindness by providing standard and sustainable eye care services which are accessible and affordable to all regardless of gender, race, colour or religion. Its essential components are hospital-based tertiary eye care services, community-oriented prevention of blindness program, need-based human resource development, promotion of basic and applied research in ophthalmology and development of appropriate and affordable technology. Published in Daily Times, May 19th 2018.