They highlighted this at a roundtable discussion titled ‘ROP Prevention & Treatment: Scope & Potentials’ at Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB) seminar room jointly organised by Orbis International and PIB on Monday.
 
Referring to statistics of the United Nations, Orbis Senior Medical Specialist Dr Lutful Husain in his keynote presentation said around 3 million babies are born in Bangladesh every year on average.

“Of them, at least 600,000 children are born prematurely. Of these premature babies, 20-22 percent kids face the risk of being affected with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP),” he added.

PIB Director General Zafar Wazed, Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) President Prof Mohammad Shahidullah, Orbis International Country Director Dr Munir Ahmed, OBGyn Society of Bangladesh ex-President Prof Rowshan Ara, Bangladesh Eye Hospital Consultant Dr Kazi Shabbir Anwar, among others, spoke at the programme.

According to ophthalmologists, ROP is a vaso-proliferative disorder affecting the avascular retina of babies who are born prematurely -- before 34 weeks of gestation.

Dr Lutful Husain said most parts of the country lack ROP service facilities as they are concentrated mainly on divisional cities and large district towns.

BMDC President Shahidullah laid emphasis on devising a short-term strategy to overcome the shortcoming.

Zafar Wazed stressed the need for building more close relations between media and health institutions for raising awareness.

Leading ophthalmologists, neonatologists, gynecologists and obstetricians, senior government officials, representatives from eye care institutions, non-government organisations, and other stakeholders took part in the discussion.