The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, AEFUTHA chapter, has offered free cataract surgery to about thirty people in Ebonyi State.
The MDCAN Chairman, Doctor Obiora Asiegbu, disclosed this at the ophthalmology training at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital (AE-FUTHA), Abakaliki, during the exercise at the weekend.
According to Asiegbu, who is also a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist with the hospital, the gesture was part of the association’s social responsibility outreach in commemoration of her annual general meeting, AGM 2023, to give back to society.
He then commended the social and corporate responsibility committee for promoting services and supporting the hospital and its management.
In his part, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, AE-FUTHA Professor Robinson Onoh, commended MDCAN for the initiative by their calling as medical doctors.
Onoh explained That motivation is part of what we are actually called to do.
“This is an organisation that, when we look around, sees what people suffer and identifies an area where we can help the masses.
“We have identified that cataract is one of the challenges that can affect the poor and indigent patients, and because of that, they are needlessly blind, meaning that they have no business being blind, but they are blind because they don’t have all it takes to get a good sight.
“Because we identified this gap, the body, MDCAN, through her executives, felt that one of the things they should do in planning their annual general meeting is that they should offer free cataract surgeries to our populace.”
Onoh, also a member of the association, said the hospital management, in support of the association, has offered hospital equipment and a conducive environment for the association to effectively carry out the service.
He noted that the hospital has been in collaboration with other professional bodies, nongovernmental organisations, and corporate bodies, including the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) and the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders), among others, to improve service delivery.
The CMD, however, described AE-FUTHA as one of the best-equipped and well-resourced hospitals in Southeast Nigeria.
Meanwhile, in an interview with some of the beneficiaries, including Mr. Isu Okoronkwo from Afikpo and Benjamin Eze from Nsukka, Enugu State, and others, MDCAN thanked MDCAN for the free surgery. According to them, they have been relieved of near blindness without any cost.
Earlier, the organising committee chairman and team leader of the eye surgeons, Dr Helen Ginger-Eke, explained that cataract is an age-related eye disease that is curable by surgery.
Ginger-Eke, a consultant ophthalmologist, described the programme as a major landmark for the current executives of the association in the hospital and appreciated the management of the hospital for her support.
She, however, noted that the harsh economic situation of the country has prevented many from undergoing the surgery.
Ginger-Eke said: “Ordinarily, a one-eye cataract surgery will cost about a hundred and twenty thousand naira in a public hospital like ours and over two hundred thousand naira in a private hospital setting.
“This is the reason our association deemed it right to break some of these barriers by doing this free cataract treatment and outreach today so that the indigent patients can benefit from the programme.
“In this exercise, we offer the services free, including care for the patients, and people are happy with such an opportunity to save them from blindness.”
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