‘Only 800 Optometrists Are Engaged in Public Sector’
Nigerian Optometric Association, NOA, weekend said only 800 out of its 4000 members are engaged by government to provide eye care services to 186 million citizens.
President of the association, Damian Echendu, in an interview with Vanguard, said this implied that one optometrist was expected to cater to the eye needs of about 232,000 people. He called on the government to employ more optometrist across the 776 Local Government Areas.
He lamented that with an estimated 1% of Nigeria’s population suffering blindness due to preventable causes, the nation was still losing manpower from its pool of eye care specialists to hospitals in the Middle-East and Asia, because opportunities to engage them in public service have been lacking.He said: “Many of our 3,200 members, engaged in private practice, are leaving the shores of this country for hospitals in Asia and the Middle-East, especially Saudi Arabia because the government has not been engaging them “So, we want the government to engage more of our members in the public sector.
It can employ one more optometrist in each local government. At worse, one in each Senatorial District to serve more citizens particularly in the rural areas.
Echendu urged the government to also increase the level of awareness on eye health and vision care among the populace with a view to preventing blindness through knowledge and information.
He disclosed that NOA, on its part, has concluded plans to launch a free eye service care programme across the country for children between age 5 and 14 tagged: ‘My sight, my right’.
He added that the association was united towards achieving a common goal of making quality eye health and vision care accessible to the public, saying “any perceived fallout among our members is part of the processes leading to election of new national executives during our 42nd AGM and 50th anniversary celebration in Abuja.
We are peaceful citizens of this great country, we will continue to be.”
By: Luminous Jannamike ABUJA
Vanguard News
