Blind Pakistani now sees thru Indian eyes
By Shahid Husain
Daily Times

(Posted by Aslam Khawja, lathrolak@...)

KARACHI: A Pakistani toddler born blind can see after receiving a pair of eyes
in a state-of-the-art transplant operation in Chennai in India this year.

“A pair of Indian eyes is now able to blink in Pakistan thanks to the growing
cooperation between the two neighbouring countries,” pioneering Indian eye
surgeon Dr Amar Agarwal told journalists at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday.

“Ahmed’s eyes are behaving like the donor’s eyes. Now the child can play,” he
said, referring to the one-year-old former patient.

Dr Agarwal said a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the
Agarwal Eye Hospital of Chennai (Madras), Isra University of Hyderabad and the
Liaquat University of Health Sciences, Jamshoro. The MoU states: “Isra
University and the Amar Agarwal Institute hereby agree to cooperate and
coordinate in all academic affairs with effect from 4th October, 2004.”

Prof. Ghulamqadir Kazi, the chancellor of Isra University, and Dr Agarwal, who
is director of the Agarwal Eye Hospital, signed the MoU.

“We are also going to have a telelink from Hyderabad (Pakistan) and Chennai and
a doctor from India will regularly visit Pakistan,” Dr Agarwal said.

Dr Agarwal is a modern pioneer of surgery, whose history dates back 3,000 years.

The famous surgeon of ancient India, Susruta, a disciple of Danavantri,
performed the earliest cataract operation.

Susruta described cataract as an opacity of the lens, its modern definition,
according to Dr Agarwal.

Today modern medical advances have made cataract surgery one of the most
successful forms of surgery, with new surgical techniques and intra-ocular
lenses able to restore excellent vision in 97 percent of all cases. In the
1960s, Dr Charles Kelman of the United States started a technique called
phaco-emulsification, in which cataracts were removed through a 3mm incision,
compared to a 12mm incision in which whole cataract was previously removed. In
1998, Dr Agarwal started a technique called Phakonit, one of the biggest
breakthroughs in cataract removal, in which cataracts were removed through a 1mm
opening.

In 2001 the Rollable Intraocular Lens was made, which went through this small
opening. There is no medical treatment for cataract. The only treatment is
surgery. The important question is when one should get operated for cataract.

The advantages of performing Phakonit cataract surgery, due to the very small
size of the cut made in the eye, is that the patient is not admitted in hospital
and go home after a few hours.

There are no stitches used and the patient gets back to his or her normal
routine the next day and can go to office, have a head bath or do normal
housework, like cooking.