By; NICHOLAS DEKERA, Kaduna
Medical research shows that over 4.2m Nigerians are currently living with irreversible blindness.
This was made known by Doctor Abdullahi Sadiq Mohammed who served as guest lecturer at the World Sight Day organize by National Eye Centre Kaduna with the theme, “love your eyes”.
According to Doctor Mohammed, the number is alarming due to poor awareness, use of traditional medication, poor examination culture and lack of resources.
On the role of National Insurance Health Scheme in reducing irreversible blindness, Mohammed maintained that the scheme caters for only civil servants and few others who can afford it, making the vast majority unable to take care of their sight stressing that the community base NIHS can take care of the less privileged and strong government partnership.
On artificial eye lashes, Dr Abdullahi Mohammed warned that eye lashes could lead to irritation or be broken and cracks the conear.
“It can tear and change eye color when not properly used,” he added.
Earlier, the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, Dr. Thelma Ndife said the message is to call on people to embark on early examination.
“Our services in National Eye Centre are for the the poor, our services are relatively cheap, we are for the poor that’s why we do community services where we do free or subsidize services.
“We look at the cases as they come especially cancerous ones and make our decision. Sometimes we do free services although it depends on the individual cases.” Ndife added.
