As many as 55 poverty-stricken patients received ophthalmic surgery free of charge at Bashundhara Eye Hospital and Research Institute in the capital’s Bashundhara Residential Area on Thursday.

The hospital, an ophthalmic venture of the country’s largest business conglomerate Bashundhara Group, in association with Vision Care Foundation and AKM Abu Taher Foundation arranged the operation.
Professor Dr Md Saleh Ahmed, Founding Director of the hospital, and Dr Rubina Akter, Phaco, Vitreo Retina Specialist and Surgeon, conducted the operations.
Of the 55, 28 are male and 27 are female all of whom hail from Barura upazila in Cumilla.
Talking to the Daily Sun, hospital Manager Mohammad Ahsan Habib said Bashundhara Eye Hospital and Research Institute examined hundreds of eye patients and provided them with treatment for free at a daylong eye camp held on the premises of Payalgacha Postgraduate College in Cumilla on January 20.
The 55 patients belong to the first batch of the people who were selected for operations at the eye camp, he added.
“Bashundhara Eye Hospital and Research Institute has been providing free treatment and operation to poor patients for years. Over 1,800 patients have so far received free operations,” said Habib.