The Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has said residents with eye problems will soon get free surgery and glasses. Ipaye spoke at the kick off of a free eye surgery programme organised by The Collectives at Sagamu, Ogun State.”Our simple approach in reaching the people of the state was we adopt “think-tank approach” where we do the supplies of drugs to the hospitals and primary health care centres across the three Senatorial districts, transfer of equipment and assessment of workforce to the appropriate hospitals, training and re-training of our health workers, and we do motivate them to be proactive,” Ipaye said.
A Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dr. Oladapo Awodein, charged the government to make blindness a priority by providing proper eye care service from primary, secondary and tertiary health care.
He noted thatthe eyes matter a lot, saying that globally 38 million people are blind, while half of them suffer from cataract and about eight million people from glaucoma, adding that blindness from glaucoma was irreversible.
”Hence, when we have 38 million people getting blind and in Nigeria over two million people being blind. This is quite significant, if you take the population of Nigeria being around 180 million; the ratio two to 180 is, indeed, significant,” Awodein said.
He government should provide an enabling environment for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to partner the government like The Collectives. ‘’They should be recognised and appreciated,’’ he added.
Source:The Nation
