City Lead on Child Eye Care

DOCTORS at Liverpool’s Alder Hey joined the fight against childhood blindness. As research shows that one child goes blind every minute somewhere in the world, eye specialists have offered to share their expertise. They have teamed up with the Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) to launch a training programme, which will give eye practitioners in Pakistan the expertise to combat avoidable and treatable blindness. The ground-breaking agreement was signed at Alder Hey, led by Alder Hey’s Arvind Chandna, consultant paediatric opthalmologist. It heralds the beginning of a series of programmes aimed at learning, experience, practice and observership and the application of this training to paediatric ophthalmology units in Pakistan. The Fred Hollows Foundation is an international charitable organisation that provides skilled medical staff to communities in the developing world where services are lacking. Rubina Gillani, Fred Hollows country manager for Pakistan, said: “This is an incredible gesture from Alder Hey.” Dr Chandna said: “These partnership programmes are aimed at training and sustainability by building long-term expertise in developing countries.”