Giving Sight to the Cataract Blind

Light at the End of the Waiting List

By Huzaifa Kermani | Chief Marketing Officer, NUR–Fatima Memorial System
April 20, 2026

Dear Friends and Supporters,

A year ago, we came to you with an urgent appeal: help us close a $4,877 gap and restore sight to 150 of Pakistan’s poorest cataract patients. You responded. And because you did, lives have changed.

This report is our accounting to you — of what your trust built, what the national evidence now tells us about the scale of the challenge that remains, and why we are asking you to stay with us as we press forward.

What We Have Achieved: Year in Review

Since our last report, the ophthalmology team at Fatima Memorial Hospital has delivered on every commitment we made to you:

• 150 free IOL surgeries completed — intra-ocular lens replacements delivered to documented indigent patients from Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, and Nankana districts.
• Two full 3-day community screening camps conducted, identifying and triaging new cataract cases from peri-urban and rural communities where no specialist access otherwise exists.
• Post-operative medication and follow-up care provided to all surgical patients, with a success rate consistent with national benchmarks.
• Transport support extended to patients unable to travel independently — one of the single greatest access barriers our team encounters in the field.
• Community-level early detection sessions delivered in partnership with local health workers, equipping families to recognise warning signs before vision is permanently lost.

“I had not seen my grandchildren’s faces clearly for three years. After the surgery at Fatima Memorial, I could see them the very next morning. I wept. I had forgotten what they looked like.”
— 68-year-old woman, Nankana district — surgical patient, January 2026

The National Picture: Why This Project Is More Urgent Than Ever

Our work does not exist in a vacuum. It is a direct response to a documented, worsening national crisis. The data below — drawn from peer-reviewed research, the IAPB Vision Atlas, and recent clinical statements by Pakistan’s leading ophthalmologists — confirms that cataract blindness in Pakistan is not receding. It is accelerating.

Key National Statistics

• 1.76 million people are blind in Pakistan — accounting for 4.06% of global blindness from a single country. (IAPB Vision Atlas, 2024)
• Over 50% of all blindness in Pakistan is caused by cataract — the single largest preventable cause. (Global Burden of Disease Study / PLoS ONE, 2019)
• An estimated 570,000 adults are blind from cataract alone, with a further 3.56 million suffering significant visual impairment from the condition. (Al-Shifa Trust / PMC, December 2025)
• Pakistan has only 15 ophthalmologists per million people — far below global standards, with most concentrated in urban centres and entire districts without a single specialist. (SEVA Pakistan Fact Sheet, 2025)
• 76% of visually impaired patients cite cost as the single biggest barrier to surgery — and in Punjab, patients are over eight times more likely to name cost as a barrier than in other provinces. (Pakistan National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey)

The most alarming new development comes from a December 2025 statement by Prof. Dr. Sabihuddin Ahmed, Head of the Cataract Department at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital:

“Pakistan now ranks first globally in diabetes prevalence, with 34.5 million adults affected — a figure forecast to hit 70.2 million by 2050. Diabetes-driven cataract cases are climbing sharply. Meeting projected surgical demand by 2030 will require at least 1.84 million surgeries annually.”

Pakistan’s surgical system is nowhere near that capacity. The gap between need and provision is widening every year.

Three Structural Barriers This Project Directly Dismantles

1. The Cost Barrier. Private cataract surgery in Pakistan currently ranges from PKR 40,000 to PKR 120,000 per eye — between USD 140 and USD 430. For the daily-wage workers, widows, and elderly patients we serve, this is simply not possible. Our project eliminates this barrier entirely: every surgery is provided free of charge.

2. The Geographic Barrier. Most of Pakistan’s ophthalmologists are based in city centres. Our outreach camp model brings qualified screening directly to communities in Sheikhupura, Kasur, and Nankana — districts where patients would otherwise never be identified, let alone treated.

3. The Gender Barrier. National data confirms that women bear a disproportionate burden of untreated cataract: the Pakistan National Survey found cataract blindness prevalence higher in women than men (1.80% vs 1.67%), and that women were significantly less likely to have accessed surgical services due to mobility constraints, financial dependence, and lack of an escort. Over 60% of the patients we serve are women.

Voices from the Waiting List

“My husband lost his job because he could no longer see. After his surgery here, he went back to work within a month. That is what this programme means to us — it is not just sight. It is survival.”
— Wife of a 52-year-old daily-wage worker, Kasur district — surgical patient, March 2026

“I waited four years because I couldn’t afford surgery. Now that the doctors said they can operate for free, I pray the hospital receives the funds so I don’t lose my last chance.”
— 70-year-old woman, Lahore outskirts — currently on our waiting list

Her wait does not have to continue.

How Your Donation Creates Immediate Impact

• $50 — Funds one complete IOL surgery and restores full sight to one patient.
• $100 — Treats two patients, including post-operative medicines and follow-up care.
• $250 — Covers transport and pre-surgical screening for an entire rural family cluster.
• $500 — Partially funds one full 3-day community screening camp.
• $1,000 — Advances an entire waiting-list cohort, moving up to 20 patients to surgery.
• Monthly giving — Sustains our surgical programme continuously with no interruptions or delays.

What the Next Phase Delivers

We are now formally launching our next cycle. According to national data, NGOs and the private sector jointly account for over 82% of all cataract surgeries in Pakistan — with government services covering less than 18%. Your donation is not supplementing a functioning public system. For thousands of patients in our catchment areas, it is the only system they will ever access.

With your support, the next phase will deliver:

• 150 additional free IOL surgeries for patients currently on our active waiting list.
• Two full 3-day community screening camps in Sheikhupura, Kasur, and Nankana.
• Post-operative medication packs and two follow-up consultations per patient.
• Transportation assistance for patients unable to reach the hospital independently.
• Community health worker training in early cataract detection, reaching at least 10 villages per camp cycle.

A Final Appeal

Cataract blindness is preventable. Cataract blindness is reversible. And yet, for hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis, it remains a life sentence — enforced not by biology, but by poverty.

Every person on our waiting list has a name, a family, and a life diminished by darkness. Many have waited years for an intervention that takes under an hour and costs you less than a dinner out.

If you are reading this, you are already part of the story. Please consider making a donation today, or sharing this project with someone who can. Together, we will ensure that no one in our communities loses their sight simply because they cannot afford to keep it.

Our mission is simple: Restore sight. Restore dignity. Restore independence.

Thank you for standing with us.

Huzaifa Kermani
Chief Marketing Officer
NUR–Fatima Memorial System | Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore

Research References:
Hassan B et al. “A comprehensive study capturing vision loss burden in Pakistan (1990–2025).” PLoS ONE, 2019.
Jadoon Z et al. Pakistan National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey. British Journal of Ophthalmology / PMC, 2007.
Khan AA et al. “Determining the National Cataract Surgical Rate in Pakistan.” Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Sabihuddin Ahmed, Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital — Media Statement, December 2025.
IAPB Vision Atlas / SEVA Pakistan Fact Sheet, 2024–2025.