Borno: NGO Begins Free Eye Surgeries For 5,000 IDPs
An NGO, Smile Mission Health Care (SMHC), on Monday, began free eye treatment and surgeries to 5,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Borno suffering from eye problems.
The coordinator of the NGO, Dr Abba Saleh, disclosed this at the inauguration of the exercise at the Eye Hospital in Maiduguri.
Saleh said that the outreach planned to perform surgeries on cataract for 1,000 people while 2,500 would be screened and given medication.
He said that 1,500 people with minor cases would be given eye glasses at the end of the exercise.
According to Saleh, about N25 million has been spent on the exercise. He said that the clients were selected from the IDP camps and from communities of Maiduguri and Jere local council areas.
He explained that the exercise was being conducted in partnership with the International Islamic Relief Organisation(IIRO), PCNI,and the Borno State Ministry of Health.
Others are the Kano Coalition of Ulama, Muslim World League and Education Support Foundation.
“We started this programme after visiting IDP camps where we realised that many people were visually impaired.
“They cannot see well while some of them are blind but it is actually reversible blindness that they are having.
“As a result, we said why we can’t give these people the opportunity see again and the hope to life.
“It is believed that if somebody is blind, it will reduced his life span by 50 per cent.
“So, as you can see we are targeting 300 persons on daily basis. “We have already screened and treated about 100 people for various eye problems such as conjunctivitis, glaucoma and tricoma.
“We are also going to do follow ups after the exercise to ensure that they are stabilised, ”he said.
Also speaking, Yagana Gujuba, an IDP, commended the organisation for treating her eyes.
Gujuba said that she could hardly see anything that was close to her but with the operation, she can now see clearly.
“My eyes are no longer itching me, I can now see clearly. Thank you very much,” she said. The Medical Director of the Borno State Eye Hospital, Mrs Fatima Abb-Kyari, said the hospital had deployed its medical personnel for the exercise.
“We are supporting the NGO with our facilities, surgical ward so that the patients can be admitted before the surgeries. “We have also offered them some of our medical personnel to enhance the smooth conduct of the exercise,” she said.
