1,150 benefit as free eye-surgery ends in Lagos

Free eye surgeries intended for 1,400 less privileged Nigerians, which started on September 8, ended at the weekend with a 1,150 achievement in completed surgeries, preventing further damage to eyes, piling treatment costs and possible blindness.

The free cataract surgeries valued at an average cost of N300,000 per person have saved 1,150 less privileged Nigerians the sum of N345 million that would have been difficult, if not impossible for many of them to raise.

The surgeries were conducted by the Rotary Club of Lagos, Palm Grove Estate, at the Lagos Island General Hospital, and now in its tenth year, with the support of Indo Eye Care Foundation, Rotary Club, Lagos Island, and Rotary Eye Institute as technical partners.

“In the last 10 years, we have treated more than 100,000 people in Nigeria, out of this number, about 18,000 people have undergone free eye surgeries, especially for cataract,” Yogish Naik, secretary, Rotary Eye Institute, said.

Naik noted the achievement with the present batch of eye surgeries, which has seen 1,150 beneficiaries, would today focus on free eye surgeries for children.

He told BusinessDay that tests conducted on prospective patients revealed there were lots of hypertensive people, and those with high sugar levels, in as much as 50 percent of patients.

The need to deepen access of more less privileged Nigerians to the required (eye) treatment has culminated in plans to build an ultra modern hospital in Lagos, where 36,000 free eye surgeries are expected to be carried out every year. The hospital is a collaborative effort between Indo Eye Care Foundation, Rotary International, Rotary Club Palm Groove, Rotary Club Lagos Island, with Rotary Eye Institute as technical partners.

“Government has approved the land, near the Airport, we have started construction and in one and half year, we will complete the project and begin operations,” Naik told BusinessDay

Deep Mirani, Trustee, Hindu Mandir Foundation (Indo Eye Care Foundation Nigeria) said after 2-3 years of running the project, it was realised that bringing 18people from India every year for the free eye surgeries was becoming increasingly expensive and burdening for the Indian community, necessitating the need for a hospital. This also included drugs, disposables, and other equipment used for the surgery which are all brought from India

Mirani allayed the fears of private hospitals who consider the initiative as a competition to their businesses, saying “their crowd is different from ours; the people we are treating will never step in their hospitals because they cannot afford to pay N300, 000 or more for surgery.

“We are not your competitors; we are only supplementing government effort to support those (poor) people who government cannot handle,” said Mirani.

For Naik, he described it “as a totally charitable project for the Nigerian community.”

He added doing 1,000 surgeries at a go as presently done, is considered extremely little considering Nigeria’s population, necessitating the need for a hospital solely dedicated to the purpose, and poised to achieve more results.

A 2013 study by Josephine Ubah, Micheline Isawumi, and Caroline Adeoti, titled; Barriers to Uptake of Cataract Surgery: An Eye Camp Account, noted that about 17.6m are blind from cataract globally. In Nigeria about 486,000 Nigerians were estimated blind with a prevalence of about 1.8 percent.

Cataract operation remains the only and very good option for treatment of cataract blindness. Over the years, new innovations have come up to restore the vision to even better levels compared to the pre morbid state. This applies to those with refractive errors prior to development of cataract. It has been observed that prevalence of cataract still remains high, especially in developing countries. Factors preventing people from assessing sight restoration services remain a challenge to the eye care delivery. This indirectly may have adverse effect on the earning power of the individual as well as the person taking care of him or her, and the society as a whole. This is especially applicable to those who are bilaterally blind.