Jordan Eye Hospital Embarks On Free Eye Treatment, As 250 Persons Benefit In Plateau

Sunday Taiwo

The management of the Jordan Eye Hospital has embarked on free eye treatment, where 250 patients benefited as part of activities to commemorate World Eye Day.

Performing the flag-off yesterday at the satellite market Rukuba road, the chief medical director Dr.Barka David Lass said the theme of this year’s world sight day is, “LOVE YOUR EYES”.

In his presentation, Dr. Lass posited that world sight day is a day that is set aside globally to create awareness and canvass support for eye health, and a day where the general population is educated about the issue of eye health and to provide opportunities for advocacy to policymakers and donor agencies to support eye health funding.

According to Dr.Lass, this private hospital derives its sponsorship from neither government nor any donor, and yet it has always reached out to Nigerians as part of its corporate social responsibility to touch life philanthropically.

The CMD noted that statistic shows over 1.1 million people aged over 50 years have visual impairment globally, a situation that ordinarily could have been avoided, prevented and treated, and 50% of the causes could have also been prevented.

The medical luminary confirmed that 70% of causes of blindness are also avoidable. Out of the 1.1 million people globally, 510 million people have a near vision impairment which leads to difficulty in reading, and the global annual financial burden of visual impairment is billions of dollars leading to 1.1 million people in Nigeria age 40 years blind, while 4.2 million has a visual impairment.

Fielding questions from journalists, Dr. Lass advised patients to as a matter of necessity, ensure that they engage in a proper routine check of their eyes, eat a good diet, and consult the right source to ensure early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of eye diseases is carried out, and appropriate rehabilitation through low vision treatment and blindness management is executed.

In appreciation of this gesture, one Mrs. Florence Atta who represented the General manager applauded the leadership of the hospital and prayed that God will reward him abundantly.

Another beneficiary Mr. Haruna Bala expressed satisfaction with the exercise and thanked the management of Jordan hospital for their magnanimity.

Over 250 patients benefited from the initiative, cutting across all religions, ethnicity, and tribes.