Cataract Eye Surgery
£40 permanently restores one person's sight. Cataracts are the leading cause of preventable blindness in Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia — and they are entirely curable.
The problem
An estimated 17 million people in the developing world are blind due to cataracts — a condition in which the lens of the eye becomes clouded, gradually stealing a person's vision until they can no longer work, care for their family, or live independently.
In Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia, access to ophthalmic care is severely limited by poverty. Patients are turned away from private hospitals for want of £40. They sit in darkness — preventably, entirely unnecessarily — while a simple cure exists.
The solution
A cataract operation takes under 20 minutes under local anaesthetic. The surgeon removes the clouded lens and replaces it with a clear artificial one. Vision is typically restored within 24 hours. The change is immediate and permanent.
For £40 — a single Zakat obligation for many Muslims — a person's sight, dignity, and independence are restored for life.
Scholar endorsement
Funding life-saving medical care for the destitute poor is a universally accepted category of Zakat according to the four major Sunni schools of jurisprudence. Our programme has been reviewed and approved as Zakat-eligible.
Medical verification
Our cataract programme is medically verified by a UK consultant ophthalmic surgeon with over 5,000 surgeries performed, working directly with our partner hospital network in Pakistan.