- provide eyeglasses, other treatments
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
No fewer than 300 people benefited from the free eye care education and treatments at a rural free eye care outreach organised by Women Optometrists in Nigeria (WON) at the Dogongada community in Lokogoma district of Abuja.
Dr. Nibhoje Udom, the FCT chairperson of WON, said the free rural community outreach is a routine exercise by the women optometrists designed to provide free eye care services to people in underserved communities in FCT.
She explained: “We do this three to four times in year through the individual support of our members, as well as other groups and philanthropists who may wish to support rural free eye care outreach from time to time.
“In each of the times, we reach out to about 300 persons or more. But before we kick-start the outreach, we engage the community members on basic eye care education that would help protect their vision, as well as things, activities, or exposures to avoid.
“In most cases, we provide reading glasses to those that need them, even though many of them are always sceptical to accept the glasses. We often educate them and made them know that using glasses is not a sin or sickness, but a way of assisting the eye to function better.
“Over the period of these outreaches, we have realised that many people are in denial of the eye challenge they might have. But we educate them properly and make them know that their vision could actually improve if they get proper care from an optometrist.”
She appreciated the ECWA Church leadership and the community leaders for trusting them and mobilising the community members to participate in the outreach.
Vice chairperson of the association, Dr. Cynthia Okoro, in her submissions, stated that the rural community eye care outreach has saved thousands of people from falling into the worst-case situation as regards vision challenge.
She said: “We visit these underserved communities in Abuja to offer free services. For instance, the Dogon gada community has limited access to quality basic health care. We even discovered that there’s no primary health care centre in the community not to talk of quality eye care services, hence the decision to do the outreach in the community.
“In this outreach, we do thorough eye examination, and we provide free counselling and treatment including reading glasses for those in need of it. But if we discover more serious cases, we won’t hesitate to refer them to relevant clinics for proper care.”
She appealed for more financial and logistics support from the government, organisations, and individuals so that more communities can be reached with eye care education and treatment.
Meanwhile, some beneficiaries appreciated the doctors for such a great intervention that had taken away some burden and brought some succour to them.
An ECWA Pastor, Na’Allah Ayuba, said he was able to get answers to some things he has been suspecting regarding his eyes. “They examined my eye properly and gave me suitable eye glasses based on their findings, and I am okay with that.”
Another beneficiary, Onyeka Uwando, said he has longed for such opportunity in the community. “We are seriously disadvantaged in this community. There’s little or no attention from the government until election season comes.”
He thanked the Women Optometrists in Nigeria for coming to the aid of people in the community. “Myself and many others have benefited from this kind gesture, and we are grateful to the doctors for that.”
Okechukwu Ikwunne, a resident in the community also told journalists that he is most grateful for the opportunity, because he’s been thinking on how he could afford the cost of eye care considering the rising cost of medicines.
He appreciated the doctors and prayed that God would replenish their pockets in hundreds fold.