Strange as it may sound, 11 members of an ultra-poor family have been suffering from visual impairedness in a village of Sadar upazila. Three of them have already lost their eyesight. But no government or non-governmental organisation has stood by them in the last couple of decades.

Locals said that four sons of the late Yasin Mollah of Atlia village in Madhuhati union lost their vision between ages 35 and 40. They are Shahidul Islam, 65, Mafizul Haque, 55, Abul Hossain, 50, and Manu Mia, 43. The only daughter, Kulsuma Begum, 60, died about a year back. She had been suffering for want of treatment and food for a long.

Shahidul Islam’s eldest daughter, Murshida Khatun, 40, died of visual disability a few years back. Two other daughters, Sahida Khatun, 35, and Masuda Khatun, 32, were left by their husbands due to blindness. Now they were staying at their parents’ home.

Mafizul Islam’s eldest daughter, Rupbhan. 36, and second daughter, Rashida, 33, are also victims of visual impairedness. Shaqib Hossain, 10, a student of class three, a grandson of Manu Mia, is also suffering from eyesight complications. Shahidul Islam said as they do not have any land for cultivation and his sons were engaged in working on fields of others as day labourers.

Ali Akbar, a resident of Atlia village, said most of the family members are victims of visual impairedness. But each of these members led a normal life till around 35 . It might be a hereditary problem, he added. A member of the Madhuhati union parishad, Golam Rasul, said he has been trying to do something for the distressed family.