Director General of NGO Affairs Bureau Md Saidur Rahman has urged the eye care providers to work in a coordinated way to ensure better services and optimal utilization of resources.
He made the call on Monday while speaking at a consultative meeting of organizations and health facilities providing the Rohingya refugees and host community people in Cox’s Bazar with eye care. Praising the integrated eye care service introduced by Orbis International, the NGO Affairs Bureau chief, in his speech as the chief guest, said if the model is replicated in other areas and fields a big change would take place in the eye health sector.
He said, The organizations working at the national level in different health areas mostly work individually, but if we can follow the Cox’s Bazar eye care model it will greatly benefit the patients. It is the time to work together with all eye care partners to have a district comprehensive eye care plan, which is inclusively addressing the displaced population in Coxs Bazar.
He assured the organizations working for the Rohingya refugees and host communities of all out support from the NGO Affairs Bureau. The meeting was held during a visit of a delegation to Rohingya camps and different eye health facilities, including Orbis International’s Vision Center in the camp area, the Eye Care Unit of Ukhiya Specialized Hospital and school screening in the host community.
Orbis organized the visit and consultative meeting. Saidur Rahman led the delegation which also comprised Sylhet Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Medical University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr AHM Enayet Hussain, Dhaka University’s Department of Economics Professor Dr Rumana Huque, Directorate General Health Services (DGHS) former Director and global public health expert Khaleda Islam and NGO Affairs Bureau Assistant Director Bipul Chandra Das.
Orbis International Country Director for Bangladesh Dr Munir Ahmed, Associate Directors Lutful Husain, Iqbal Hossain and Cox’s Bazar Baitush Sharaf Hospital (CBBSH) General Secretary MM Sirajul Islam accompanied the delegation during the visit.
Prof Enayet Hussain presided over the consultative meeting while Dr Munir Ahmed moderated it and Khaleda Islam made special comments. Prof Enayet Hussain, also the country chair of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) for Bangladesh and the President of Ophthalmological Society of Bangladesh (OSB), said Orbis and CBBSH are playing a key role in providing Rohingya refugees, who fled to Bangladesh from neighboring Myanmar, and the host community with eye care.
Dr Munir, in his speech, highlighted the Orbis’s work in Cox’s Bazar in partnership with CBBSH, ACLAB and Ukhiya Specialized Hospital. The organizations and health facilities whose representatives attended the consultative meting include CBBSH, BRAC, Partners in Health and Development (PHD), Handicap International, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, the Fred Hollows Foundation, Alliance for Cooperation and Legal Aid Bangladesh (ACLAB), and Office of Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC).
