65 Cataract Patients Get Free Surgeries in Nasarawa

Director of the Aminu Musa Abdulsalam Foundation, Ms. Aisha Yusuf Mamman, has revealed that 80 per cent of blindness is preventable with the right source to information, even as the foundation performed 65 free surgeries at the Mararaba Medical Centre, Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. She said cataract was the leading cause of impairment and can be treated within 20 minutes, adding that the foundation spends N11,000 on each patient as against N30,000 - N40,000 as well as N250,000 at the National Eye Centre and other private hospitals respectively.

She said eye-related complications have continued to increase because people do not go to hospitals early enough when symptoms arise and unfortunately, when complications get to some level, it becomes more difficult to treat.

She said “80 per cent of blindness is preventable and cataract is the leading cause. What we do is to take our facilities to the door step of rural communities and provide them with our services because a lot of people in the rural communities lack access to adequate healthcare.

“Some people do not come in early and unfortunately, if it’s there for too long, there is nothing much that we can do for them. And in the case of children, we cannot perform surgery for them in an outreach. So we refer them to National Eye Centre and when they go in, the foundation sponsors the surgery.

“For surgery, it is done in bulk and it cost us about N11,000 for a patient, while if you go the National Eye Centre, it costs about N30,000 - N40,000 and in other private hospitals, it can go for as high as N250,000.”

A beneficiary, Bashir Shehu from Sokoto State, whom at the time of being prepared for surgery said he hadn’t paid a kobo, said he got to know of the foundation through a neighbour whose relation was a beneficiary, and added that he was willing to sell all his possessions in order to see.

He said: “When it started, I continued to have serious headache and before I knew what was happening, over a period of time, I became blind in the left eye. I am happy about this gesture from the foundation which is treating me for free. I was willing to sell all my possessions including my father’s land just to see again because I am the only one who knows what and how I am feeling.”

The foundation which has so far done over 1,500 surgeries is also into education, women empowerment and waterrelated issues. It holds a 26 days annual programme in Kaduna State.