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From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
The Nigerian Optometric Association, Cross River State Chapter, has raised the alarm over a looming blindness crisis in the state, blaming the surge on quackery and acute shortage of qualified eye care professionals.
The Chairperson of the Association, Dr. Cecilia Chukwu, raised the concern during a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Cross River State Council, as part of activities to mark World Sight Day 2026.
Chukwu disclosed that Cross River State civil service has only two optometrists, both based in Calabar, with one set to retire in the next two years; leaving just one optometrist for the entire state.
“Since 2014 we have been talking about this, what happens to our people in other areas?” She further revealed that during a recent outreach at Ekori, Yakurr LGA, the team discovered 18 persons already blind and 48 others in urgent need of eye surgery.
“And they don’t even know they are blind. Most of them have one eye,” she lamented, adding that the community has a well-furnished Primary Health Centre but no eye care presence.
The Association also decried dangerous myths fueling blindness, citing a case of a woman who believed thunder and lightning caused her blindness, when she was actually at end-stage glaucoma.
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“Glaucoma has no sign. You won’t know you have glaucoma until blindness takes place,” Chukwu warned. According to her, the vacuum created by government has allowed unqualified persons to open full-fledged eye clinics, especially in Ikom and other parts of northern Cross River.
“They display already-fitted glasses on tables. Once you complain, you keep trying them until you get one that seems okay. You pay and go. Anybody who does not look behind your eye is not doing good work.
“When qualifies eye care services are unavailable, people become vulnerable to unqualified persons who may provide inappropriate eye examination or treatment. This is a serious public health and patient safety issue,” she said.
She said the rate of blindness is on the increase in northern Cross River due to absence of professionals, and called for urgent employment and deployment of optometrists to at least one per senatorial district.
Meanwhile, the Association said this year’s World Sight Day, under the theme: “Love Your Eyes,” will focus on teachers, as partners in detecting poor vision among children and as persons who themselves need good vision to teach.
“We recognize teachers as important partners in identifying visual challenges among children. They are often the first to notice when a child is struggling to see the board,” Chukwu said.
She appealed to the media to help educate Cross Riverians to seek eye care only from qualified and licensed professionals.
