No fewer than 500 Kano residents suffering from cataract disease have regained clear vision after successful free clinical procedure offered by Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN) on Sunday.
Cataract is a disease that affects the clear lens of the eye and subjects sight to cloudiness where light is prevented from focusing on the retina, thereby triggering blurry and hazy vision in the sufferers.
The sight-saving service rendered by OSN at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, was part of its community outreach, on the sideline of its 49th National Scientific Conference holding in the state.
A Consultant Ophthalmology, Umar Faruk Ibrahim, who Chairs the Conference Local Organising Committee (LOC), said the outreach was designed to reduce the burden of cataract in the health population.
Citing the prevalence of cataract condition in the country, Dr. Ibrahim disclosed that cataract accounted for about 50 per cent of all cases of blindness, adding that the community service intends to cure patients.
“Cataracts are the number one blinding light all over the world. We have been battling to reduce cataracts all over the world. This is an ongoing thing all over the world. And if you operate on it, you remove it, you cure the patient permanently.
“It is not like glaucoma. In glaucoma, you cannot cure. There are other diseases that you cannot cure. But cataracts, once you operate on it, you cure the patient. There was a survey on prevalence of cataract in Nigeria. It is the number one cause of blindness in the country. And I think it was almost 50% of all blind people over 40 years of age.
“So as part of community or social responsibility, we tend to do outreach in which we treat patients. That is what we are doing today and tomorrow. We are doing cataract outreach both here in AKTH and Murtala Specialists Hospital. And after that, we will hold our scientific conference where scientific papers will be deliberated. There is an exchange of knowledge between various scientists. Some of them come from abroad, some of them are from here.”
Besides the community outreach, the consultant Ophthalmologist explained the Scientific Conference with the theme: Ophthalmic Education and Training will avail members opportunities to expand frontiers of knowledge and share experiences.
Speaking on behalf of the AHM Foundation, Project Manager, Muhammad Nasir Musa, said the foundation provides consumables worth millions of naira to support the outreach.
Musa disclosed the foundation plans to sustain partnership and support the society to carry out similar clinical services across 26 states of the federation to give back to the society.
Beneficiaries of the humanitarian gesture, in their separate reactions, applauded the society and the foundation for restoring their vision.
