KUALA LUMPUR, May 6— The Health Ministry has warned of a possible cataract "tsunami” by 2050, saying many Malaysians may end up blind if they do not seek treatment accordingly.

The Star quoted the ministry’s deputy ophthalmology service head Dr Mohd Aziz Husni as saying there were currently 120,000 cataract patients, with the figure set to triple in 33 years as the population ages.

"We are becoming an ageing nation and we will have more age-related diseases such as cataract and macular degeneration,” Dr Mohd Aziz reportedly said.

A cataract is a condition in which the lens of an eye becomes cloudy. It is typically treated by replacing the cloudy lens with an artificial lens.

In 2015, the National Eye Survey 2014 found  that 216,000 Malaysians became blind because of delayed corrective surgery.

The survey also showed that the condition caused 272,000 others to be visually impaired.

Dr Mohd Aziz said that the ministry performed 50,000 cataract surgeries annually, while private hospitals as well as university and army hospitals perform another 50,000 and 20,000 surgeries respectively.