Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness
INTRODUCTION
The journey of Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness
Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB) founded in 1988, formerly known as the Pakistan Retinitis Pigmentosa Society (PREPS) is a registered national, non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) working in the field of medical research and humanitarian services for the visually impaired in Pakistan.
Background
Ophthalmologists agreed to form an organization
The journey of Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness began after a meeting of Dr. Salma Maqbool, a Medical Practitioner, and Mr. Zaheer Khalid, a Chartered Accountant, which took place sometime in late 1987. In 1974 Dr. Salma Maqbool, was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a genetically transmitted hereditary eye disease leading to blindness. In search of a cure for the disease Dr. Salma traveled to numerous centers of excellence including Dr. Eliot Burson at MIT Boston USA, Dr. Allen Bird at Moorefield Eye Hospital London, Hellen Holtz Eye Hospital Moscow and Dr. D. K. Gahlot at All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi. Meanwhile Mr. Zaheer Khalid was also visiting Ophthalmologists engaged in research on RP in UK and the United States.
Dr. Bashir A. Chohan a well-known Ophthalmologist working at an Islamabad Hospital was instrumental in providing the contact addresses of each other to Dr. Salma and Mr. Zaheer Khalid. Following the first encounter, several meetings between these two RP affectees and their families who were no less concerned to work for accessing information about the research work where ever it was taking place, and to develop linkages, with the umbrella organization called International Retinitis Pigmentosa Association (IRPA), which had already came into existence. Read More
