Pacific Jeans to provide free eye care to workers

Pacific Jeans Group started providing intensive eye care services to the workers of its four factories at free of cost.

The country's pioneering premium jeans manufacturer and leading exporter has partnered with Australia-based non-profit public health organisation Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) to implement FHF's ongoing project titled "Empowering Garment Workers through Uptake of Eye Care Services".

The initiative aims at creating a sustainable solution for eye problems among 26,000 workers of the group's four factories.

Pacific Jeans Director Syed M Tanvir and Fred Hollows Foundation Country Manager Dr Zareen Khair signed an agreement in this regard at a brief ceremony held at the auditorium of NHT Fashions Ltd yesterday.

Under the project, vision detection corners have already been installed in the factories so that workers can self-screen for visual impairment and be referred to factories' respective medical centres, which have been equipped and renovated for basic eye care, said FHF Project Officer Nafiz Mahmood Ayon, adding that 80 female coordinators and 16 medical staff have been trained in the matter.

Patients with diagnosed refractive error will be provided with free spectacles through a cost-sharing mechanism between the two signees, while cataract surgeries, if necessary, will also be conducted free of cost, he informed.

Tanvir assured that they will stay committed to the two-year project and continue it later on.