Empower Families by Restoring His Sight

For 40 years, LRBT (Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust) has been Pakistan’s largest provider of free eye care, standing as a beacon of hope for millions living with reversible blindness. With 61 million lives transformed and counting, LRBT remains at the forefront of the fight against curable blindness—ensuring that poverty never stands between a patient and the gift of sight.

Every year, LRBT treats over 3.3 million patients, of whom 49% are male. For many men in low-income households, their vision determines their ability to work and support their families. Blindness, therefore, is not just a personal tragedy—it is a financial and emotional crisis for entire families who depend on them.

Through this project, “Empowering Families by Restoring His Sight,” LRBT is committed to providing free cataract surgeries to poor male patients across Pakistan—restoring their independence, dignity, and ability to provide for their loved ones.

For men working as labourers, drivers, farmers, shopkeepers, or daily wage earners, losing their eyesight means losing their livelihood. A simple cataract—a treatable condition—can trap whole families in cycles of poverty.

Among the many lives transformed by LRBT is Abid, a young man from a rural tribe near Quetta, Balochistan. His father had dreamed of giving him a better future and worked tirelessly to send him to an elite boarding school in Murree.

But life changed abruptly in 10th grade.

While playing cricket, Abid was struck in the eye by a ball—an injury that slowly cost him his vision. As his board exams approached, his sight deteriorated so severely that he had to return home, abandon his studies, and begin a long, painful search for treatment.

His father, determined and heartbroken, took him to over 15–16 doctors and hospitals, but each visit ended in disappointment. No one could offer a solution.

Then they found LRBT.

After complete evaluation, LRBT offered Abid a corneal transplant—a procedure they could never have afforded on their own. The surgery restored his sight and gave him back the life he feared he had lost.

Today:

• Abid is enrolled in an MPhil program in university

• He has fulfilled his father’s dream of higher education

• And he is helping students from his tribe pursue education, breaking barriers for the next generation in addition to running a mobile shop

His journey is a testament to what timely, free, high-quality eye care can achieve.

In Pakistan, where 90% of blindness is curable, every surgery is not just a medical procedure—it is an opportunity for an entire household to regain stability and hope.