The incidence of childhood blindness is increasing in the subcontinent. We need to curb this," says Dr. Md. Younas Khan.

Dr. Md. Younas Khan and Dr. Md. Naeem Khan of Peshawar, Pakistan are here to specialise in paediatric ophthalmology. Their visit is part of a training programme sponsored by the Vision 2020 of the World Health Organisation at the L V Prasad Eye Hospital, Hyderabad.

They feel that India is the best-suited country for their education as it has conditions similar to that of their home country, Pakistan. As Dr. Naeem Khan puts it, "If we studied the same in UK, we would not be able to identify with the cases there, as the conditions there are very different”.

These doctors from Pakistan do not limit their services only for their compatriots. They try and help heal the wounded of neighbouring Afghanistan, who come to Peshawar for treatment of war-inflicted wounds and common ailments. "Both in Afghanistan and Peshawar, inter-family marriages are common. Hence, congenital diseases like blindness are highly prevalent. But no general ophthalmologist can identify this. We need to be a specialist and that is what we have come here to be,” says Dr. Younas Khan.