Kogi commits to sustaining eye care programme

The Kogi State Government has pledged the timely release of the Blindness Prevention Fund in the approved state budget, adding that the residents would continue to have access to quality eye care services.

The state governor, Usman Ododo disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the ceremony marking the end of the Sightsavers Kogi State Eye Care Programme project.

Ododo, represented by the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Abdulazeez Adeiza, said, “My office will ensure the timely release of the blindness prevention vote in the approved budget of Kogi State. We will also provide the retention and maintenance of the eye care Hilux donated by the International Society of the Blind to enhance the logistics of the eye care programme team.

“I won’t call it a closing ceremony but rather a transition ceremony of  Sightsavers rendering eye health services to the people in the state. They have rendered diagnostic and therapeutic interventions to thousands of persons in the state. They have also helped in training health workers, nurses and doctors on how to give quality eye care to people.

“We are grateful for the support and resources provided by Sightsavers International which has enabled us to establish comprehensive eye care centres, train doctors and provide equipment and resources. We are committed to sustaining the achievements of this programme and ensuring that the people of Kogi State continue to have access to quality eye care services.”

The Country Director, Sightsavers Nigeria, Dr. Joy Shu’aibu noted that stakeholders developed the state’s eyecare committee, which will help sustain the gains of the three-year partnership with the organisation.

Shu’aibu said, “We have examined an average of 14,000 people across the areas where we have worked. We have dispensed approximately 8,000 spectacles. We have refracted about 10,000 people, and we have offered life-changing cataract surgeries to several people in Kogi State and other related eyecare surgeries,” among others.

Speaking on some of the key achievements of the project,  Sightsavers’ Senior Programme Manager for Eye Health, Selben Penzin disclosed that they invested in the control of avoidable blindness in the state.