Me Cure canvasses regular eye screening to prevent blindness

Angela Onwuzoo

Given the enormous burden of blindness in the country, Nigerians have been urged to pay adequate attention to preventable and avoidable eye diseases that could lead to blindness, by going for regular eye screening at least once a year for early detection and proper treatment.

Experts at Me Cure Healthcare Limited (MHL), Lagos, made the call recently during a free eye screening programme organised by the health facility to mark the 2017 World Sight Day (WSD) with the theme: “Make Vision Count”.

The experts suggested that regular eye check should become a norm in Nigeria in order to reduce rising cases of blindness resulting from two leading cause of blindness in the world today – cataract and glaucoma, which they said are avoidable and preventable.

WSD is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October every year, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment.

Speaking at the event, a Consultant Ophthalmologist and Chief Operating Officer, Me Cure Eye Centre, Dr. Adegboyega Alabi, who described glaucoma as a public health problem, warned those handling the condition with kid gloves that blindness resulting from glaucoma is irreversible.

Alarmed by the way many Nigerians were going blind from the eye disease, Alabi however, assured that both cataract and glaucoma could be prevented and treated with standardised care by eye specialists when detected early.

According to Alabi, 80 percent of blindness was due to causes that are avoidable.

He explained: “What I mean by ‘avoidable causes’ is that, it can either be treated or prevented. Now, glaucoma causes irreversible blindness but can be prevented through early detection. But once it results in blindness, there is nothing anybody can do to reverse it, hence the dire need to intensify awareness on its prevention.”

On cataracts, the ophthalmologist warned Nigerians living with the condition to avoid quackery and harmful treatment practices such as couching, which he described as a dangerous and unsuccessful method for treating cataracts.

“The treatment for cataract is surgery and not eye drop nor eye glasses. The surgery for cataract is safe when carried out in the right facility and by an eye specialist”, he affirmed.

Couching is an unscientific and traditional procedure used in the treatment of cataract.

Warning against going the traditional way in treating cataracts, Alabi cautioned that such traditional and unscientific procedure could result into severe complications and complete blindness in most cases.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 90 percent of the world’s visually impaired people live in low and middle income countries inclusive of Nigeria.

To help reduce blindness in Nigeria, he said Me Cure Eye Centre in this 2017 edition of the WSD, decided to carry out a free eye screening programme on cataracts, glaucoma, refractive error, diabetic retinopathy and allergy, among others for the general public.

He stated that the free eye screening was aimed at promoting good eye health and to also support vision 2020 goal of reducing blindness worldwide.

Commenting on this year’s theme, the ophthalmologist said to make vision count, the public must be enlightened on the importance of good eye sight as well as ways of reducing their risk to blindness and visual impairment.

Quoting data from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), the specialist revealed that some 36 million people across the world are blind, with 217 million people having either moderate or severe visual impairment, many of whom he said, were from developing countries like Nigeria.

Also, Me Cure’s Head of Strategy and Commercial Service, Dr. Kunle Megbuwawon, said with 80 percent of blindness being avoidable and preventable, the burden of preventive blindness is now a public health concern and responsibility.

Megbuwawon, who is also Head, Family Medicine Unit of the health facility, said over 100 individuals were screened during the programme with a significant number of eye diseases identified.