The wife of the Osun State Governor, Mrs Kafayat Oyetola, has provided free eye care treatment for no fewer than five hundred residents of the state, AMILOADED reports.
The program, which was held under the IleriOluwa Development Initiative, in conjunction with the Nigerian Optometric Association, took place in Osun State on Wednesday to commemorate the 2021 World Sight Day.
Speaking at the event, the Osun First Lady said the free eye care treatment was part of the IleriOluwa Development Initiatives’ commitment to enhancing the living condition of the people.
She said, “This intervention is part of our larger medical Intervention programs to assist clearly indigent people in our state to attain good vision health.
“IleriOluwa Development Initiative has organized this medical intervention as part of our commitment to enhancing the living condition of our people in this state. We have decided to synchronize this intervention with the period of the 2021 World Sight Day which commemoration will take place tomorrow.
“Additionally, we shall be having a consultative engagement with a group of eye experts, mark the day. The objective to bring intensive awareness on the importance of our eyes and their care to the overall health.
“Vision health is a crucial aspect of health. It is significant to the effective engagement in day to day living. As we grow or age, certain eye conditions are bound to emerge which would demand medical or clinical attention. Lack of this attention or care could lead to reduced eyesight or total loss of vision.
“One cannot ignore the fact that even while people in our communities suffer some of these conditions, they may be unable to see the appropriate care largely because of the low level of income available to them,” Mrs Oyetola stated.
The Osun First Lady further disclosed that the health intervention would be a regular item on the IleriOluwa programme package just as she advised the beneficiaries of eye care programme to adhere strictly to the advice of the experts who attended to them.
On his part, the Osun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Rafiu Isamotu, enjoined parents and guardians to give their children diets that contain vitamin A to enhance their sight as well as prevent them from exposing their eyes to sunlight and screens of electronic gadget.
A member of the Nigerian Optometric Association, Dr Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, bemoaned the “staggering figure” of one billion people suffering from one eye condition or the other worldwide, saying most of which were avoidable.
He said, “Studies show that not less than 1 billion people suffer from one eye condition or the other worldwide. This is a staggering figure when the total population of the world is considered. Many of the factors that contribute to reduced or lost vision are such that have been identified in our environment here. Some include diabetes, traumas, cataracts and infection among others.”
He however encouraged the people constantly seek care for their eye to prevent or treat sight related problems.
The program involved health talk on care for eye, situation assessment of the eye, issuance of optical kits and referral where intensive clinical intervention were needed.
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