CBM meets Pakistan Prime Minister about plans to tackle avoidable blindness
Dr. Babar Qureshi, CBM Director of Inclusive Eye Health
On the side lines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings in London this week, CBM's Director of Inclusive Eye Health Dr Babar Qureshi and Dr Andrew Bastawrous, CEO and co-founder of Peek Vision met with Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to discuss plans to eliminate avoidable blindness in Pakistan.
"We were delighted to have this opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister and to hear of his continued commitment to preventing avoidable blindness in Pakistan", said Dr Qureshi. "In partnership with Peek Vision and the Pakistan Government, we're very excited about the potential to deliver eye health services to more people across the country, including the poorest and most remote communities, making progress towards a time when nobody is needlessly blind".
CBM has been working very actively with the government in Pakistan to prevent blindness for over forty years. Peek Vision is a world leader in using ​smartphone technology and training healthcare workforces in developing countries to ​eliminate preventable blindness and poor vision.
At the meeting, CBM and Peek Vision set out plans to deliver the most advanced solutions for the identification, diagnosis and treatment management for Pakistani citizens using Pakistan​'s existing health infrastructure and staff..
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi invited Peek Vision and CBM​ to Pakistan and expressed the Governments clear commitment to ​eliminate preventable blindness in Pakistan. He committed the full support of the Government for a national program in this regard. Peek Vision and CBM agreed to follow up and work with the Government to achieve this.
CBM/Jamsyd Masud
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