A 44-year-old man from Govandi, Mohammed Bashir, experienced partial vision loss after coming into contact with sulfuric acid while unblocking a pipeline at a house in a private society without adequate safety equipment in August. It took two months for Bashir, who also works in construction and cleans nullahs, to completely regain his eyesight.

He would have lost his vision completely had he not sought treatment in time, noted ophthalmologist Dr Nusrat Bukhari, who treated him at Apollo Spectra Hospitals in Tardeo. The cost of his treatment was taken care of by the house he had visited for work. “The moment I poured acid in the pipeline to unchoke it, there was a reaction and it went in my eyes,” Bashir said. His last follow-up visit to the hospital was at the end of September.