No fewer than five hundred men and women from Minna and Bida in Niger State have benefitted from Nigeria National Petroleum Company Foundation free cataract surgery.
Managing Director of the NNPC Foundation, Mrs. Emmanuella Arukwe, said the intervention was aimed at combating widespread vision impairment caused by cataracts affecting many Nigerians
Arukwe, who was represented by the team lead to Niger State, Adamu Sani, said the intervention, which was being replicated across the six geopolitical zones aimed to bring sight back to 6,000 indigent Nigerians.
He said on Friday at the Primary Health Care centre, Bosso Low-cost, Minna that, while the Foundation targets 1,000 persons in North central zone, free cataract screening and surgery has been carried to the sight of 500 patients have been restored in Niger State.
Accordingly, he said, “Cataracts remain one of the leading causes of blindness globally and nearly 50 per cent of blindness cases in Nigeria are caused by cataracts.
“In rural and underserved areas, limited access to quality eye care exacerbates this challenge and many individuals live with avoidable blindness because they cannot afford or access the care they need.
“The challenge is not just a health issue – it is a social and economic crisis, as vision loss impacts productivity, independence, and overall quality of life.”
Commissioner of Secondary and Tertiary Health, Dr. Bello Tukur while declaring the event opened said 1.8% (4.3million Nigerians) and Niger state has over 5,000 adults with cataract as backlog and every year we get no fewer than 500 additional cases.
Tukur added that “out of the 500 patients screened, advised, 200 eyes were operated in Minna, and 300 in Bida and drugs are also administered.”
In her welcome remarks, Chairperson EyeCare, Dr. Halima Isah said visual loss has detrimental effects and with the programme, hundreds of persons have had their sights restored.
While some of the overjoyed beneficiaries celebrated their restored vision, Hajia Fatima Mohammed Sallah a retired Permanent Secretary who had surgery on one of her eyes in 2024, said “I heard about the free cataract surgery and I needed to get the second eye done. Thank God, I am part of the beneficiaries; before the surgery I could not see, but that I can see and I feel better.”
