In Chitral, losing your sight does not just mean losing vision. It means losing your independence, your work, your place at the centre of family life, and often, the road to the nearest eye specialist is simply too long, too steep and too expensive to travel.
The distance between a village and a doctor
For families in the valleys around Drosh, a cataract is rarely treated early. It begins as a haze, colours fade, faces blur, and a grandmother who once cooked for her whole household needs a hand to cross her own courtyard.
Specialist eye care means a journey out of the district, days away from home, transport costs, accommodation, and surgical fees that a farming or daily-wage family simply cannot raise. So people wait. And while they wait, a condition that could be corrected in a matter of minutes slowly takes their world away.
That is why Al Mustafa Welfare Trust brings the care to them.
One day at Drosh Bazaar Zero Point
Our medical team set up a free one-day eye camp at Drosh Bazaar Zero Point in Chitral, and the community came. Women arrived with their daughters. Older men were walked in on the arms of their sons and neighbours. Children were carried through the door by parents who had been worrying quietly for months.
Every patient who came through that door received, completely free of charge:
