Volunteer Saudi doctors bring gift of sight in rural Bangladesh

Volunteer Saudi doctors bring gift of sight in rural Bangladesh

DHAKA: When poor eyesight forced Motiur Rahman to abandon his pulled rickshaw, there seemed to be no hope that he would find another livelihood — until last month, when Saudi doctors treated his cataract and gave him a new lease on life. Rahman, 62, was one of hundreds of people who underwent eye surgery when ophthalmologists from the Kingdom arrived in the Chapainawabganj area of northwestern Bangladesh in late September. “I was close to blind before the operation. But with the grace of almighty Allah, now I am completely ok with my (eyesight),” he said. “I feel like (I’m) reborn. I can see things like in my early days.” The Saudi Noor Volunteer Program between Sept. 23 and Oct. 1 was organized by the Al-Basar International Foundation, a Saudi NGO working in the field of blindness prevention, with support from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center or KSrelief. “A total of 15 doctors came from Saudi Arabia,” Dr. Ahmed Taher Hamid Ali, Al-Basar’s country director for Bangladesh, told Arab News. “They were very willing to provide quality eye care to underprivileged persons.” The doctors’ work was facilitated by Al-Basar’s local partner, Al-Noor Eye Hospital in Dhaka, which organized