⦁ The Prof. Dr. Khalid Iqbal Talpur was the founder of SIOVS and Community Ophthalmology Department, and Mr. Jalil Ahmed Rajper Deputy Director Ophthalmic Community Services is the in-charge of this department.
⦁ The Community Ophthalmology department is a living-force of SIOVS. It is a heart to the organization as it gives life to the mission and vision of SIOVS with each passing day. The different International Organizations have been working with the institute to broaden ophthalmic services in the entire Sindh, Pakistan.
⦁ The services include ophthalmic assistance, formal and informal education, personal and professional development, awareness campaigns, behavior change management, construction of accessible wash facilities, mother and community education, and teachers and students’ training of different eye diseases and their prevention.
⦁ The community-based projects encompass eye screenings (schools and communities), refractions (Rural Health Centers), diabetes and diabetes related blindness screening, surveys, research work all is implemented through a community ophthalmology team based in the field or within the department. The implemented projects are deeply aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals especially Good health and wellbeing, Quality education, Gender equality, Clean water and sanitation, Decent work and economic growth, Reducing inequality, Sustainable cities and communities, Climate action, and life on land.
⦁ The Community Ophthalmology Department, in the strategic planning, aims to get certified with ISO and PMI to internationalize the working scope, standards, and parameters, to better integrate into the society and make well-informed with the increasing market and organization’s pace. The institute also desires to develop a robust mechanism for working in community eye health with the increasing demands towards making eye health inclusive and leaving no one behind. Keeping in view of the changing realities and scenarios, SIOVS also intends to change its work from the community to an inclusive community eye health department in the next couple of years.
