Stakeholders in the eye care sector have called on the Ekiti State Government to make eye screening a prerequisite for admission into public schools in the state. They said such was necessary to prevent needless blindness, especially among young people after the staggering finding that “90 per cent of Nigerian children never had quality eye examination in life.”

 

The state Chairman, Ophthalmological Association of Nigeria, Dr Kayode Ajite, who harped on the need for regular eye check, appealed to the state government “to invest adequately in eye care sector in order to prevent needless blindness of the productive age group and the populace at large.”

The consultant ophthalmologist, alongside the state Chairman, Nigerian Optometruc Association, Dr Faith Omotayo; and the state Chairman of Nigerian Ophthalmic Nurses Association, Mr Kolade Olatunji, spoke at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, at an event to mark the 2019 World Sight Day with the theme, ‘Vision First,’ organised by the state Ministry of Health Eye Care Team.

 

Ajite urged the government to equip health facilities with modern equipment to promptly diagnose and treat visual impairment and blindness.

 

He also sought “inclusion of eye screening as prerequisite for admission in public schools, training and retraining of all cadres of eye health workers, as well as promotion of public enlightenment campaigns on eye health.” He said the theme of this year’s World Sight Day was aimed at raising public awareness on blindness and vision impairment.

 

He said, “The campaigns were necessitated by the fact that 80 per cent of human daily activities require good vision. “In Ekiti State, cataract, glaucoma, refractive errors, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration contributed in various proportions to the 1.8 per cent prevalence rate of blindness and visual impairment.

 

“In February 2019, Ekiti State Government in conjunction with Buhari Restores Vision Programme offered over 500 citizens free cataract and pterygia surgeries. This has contributed to the reduction of avoidable blindness in Ekiti,” Ajite said.

 

The consultant, who also lauded the state government for releasing funds for equipping the state specialist hospital at Ikere Ekiti with ophthalmic instruments, appealed that the gesture should cut across the three senatorial districts.