World Sight Day: Army conducts eye check, distributes glasses
The 68 Nigerian Army (NA) Reference Hospital, Yaba on Friday carried out a free medical outreach and distributed glasses at Tejuosho Market to mark the World Sight Day held globally every Oct.10.
Maj. Stephen Okefi, the hospital’s Head of Department (HOD), Opthalmology, said that the Chief Medical Director (CMD) 68 NA Reference Hospital, Col. Godwin Ogoh stated that the medical outreach was part of the Army’s Corporate Social Responsibility.
Okefi said that it was observed that some adults and children did not take eye care seriously and rarely go for comprehensive eye check to ascertain the status of their eyes.
“So, we brought this outreach down to Tejuosho Market on a Friday so that we can reach out to as many people as possible who have come to shop for the weekend.
“This outreach, sponsored by the Medical Corps and the CMD is simply to create awareness on the importance of eye health and the need for check up regularly,” he said.
The HOD said that the hospital carried out free medical outreach periodically as a way of giving back to the society it served.
“For instance, in March, we organised a free medical care for World Glaucoma Day and now this outreach is for World Sight Day.
“We take advantage of any world event relating to the eye to reach out to people and discuss on matters pertaining the eye.
“We believe that by creating awareness on eye care, we will be able to assist people detect early signs of eye defect and promptly address any underlying ailment,” he said.
Okefi said that several eye glasses would be given out, especially to those that did have access to such service or those who did not have financial means to get one.
“We will give glasses and drugs as necessary to those who need it and people will be told their health conditions so that they can take early measures, to prevent further damage.
“What we are trying to achieve is to sensitise people on the importance of eye care because people don’t value the need to go for eye screening,” the HOD said.
He advised people to regularly go for eye screening at least once or twice annually even if they felt that they did not have any problem with their sight.
“When you do this, you will be able to identify any problem early enough and prevent it from developing into a full scale one,” Okefi said.
