More Residents To Benefit From Free Eye Treatment In Ogun State

The Ogun State Government says all is now set for more residents of the state to benefit from its free eye surgical operation and issuance of recommended glasses to those with sight problems.

The Commissioner for Health Mr Babatunde Ipaye said this while flagging off a week long programme, put together by “The Collectives” a community-based project that provides free eye screening and surgical operation to eye patients, held at Sagamu, Ogun State.

“The next stage of the scheme would be more comprehensive, as it would involve surgical interventions for those living with eye defects like cataract and glaucoma,” he said

According to him, over 20,000 residents have already benefited from government social health insurance scheme called ‘Araya’ providing care for the less privilege people in the state.

Furthermore, he noted that about 24 health facilities both private and public were already enlisted to treat patients with government paying the premium every month.

”People receiving anti-natal care, treatment of malaria, hypertension, diabetes, tuberculosis and some other common killer diseases are being offered free of charge, particularly for children under 5-years-of-age.

“Our simple approach in reaching the people of the state was the “think-thank approach” where we supply drugs to the hospitals and primary health care centres across the three Senatorial Districts, transfer equipment and deploy workforce to the appropriate hospitals, training and re-training of our health workers, and we do motivate them to be proactive,” he said.

Also according to the health commissioner, a Bill is currently before the State House of Assembly to have a law that would make health insurance available for all the citizens of the state, as part of the comprehensive approach towards effective service delivery and qualitative health care.

About 38 million people globally are believed to be blind, half of them from cataract, and about eight million from glaucoma. Experts say blindness from glaucoma is irreversible while blindness from cataract can be cured.