The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has provided eyecare services and donated reading glasses to more than 500 workers in the administration.
Dr Adedolapo Fasawe, Mandate Secretary of Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES), FCTA, stated this during a news briefing in Abuja on Tuesday.
Fasawe explained that the media briefing was part of activities to commemorate the 2023 World Sight Day, with the theme, “Love Your Eyes at Work”.
She said that the free services, which took place on Tuesday, were part of continued efforts to make eyecare services affordable and available to the working population of the FCTA.
“During the eye screening, 500 staffers of the FCTA were given reading glasses free to complement President Bola Tinubu’s initiative.
“You will recall that President Tinubu had in September inaugurated the distribution of five million reading glasses to Nigerians.
“As an individual, I am donating 750 reading glasses to the FCTA in support of the 2023 WSD activities,” Fasawe said.
She added that the team would move to Karu Abattoir on Wednesday to screen the workers and the immediate community.
Fasawe said that drugs and other medical interventions would be provided while an additional 500 reading glasses would be donated to the community members.
“Last year, we provided optical, medical, and surgical interventions to the teaming population of FCT residents, with support from relevant stakeholders and the Federal Ministry of Health.
“This year, the HSES has received the support of the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike to celebrate the WSD with rapt attention to the sight and visual needs of workers.
“This is an indication of Wike’s resolve to ensure that FCT stays in the forefront in the fight to reduce the menace of avoidable blindness,” she said.
Fasawe added that a considerable proportion of Nigerians had the tendency to wait until there was an emergency before seeking the help of the eye care professional.
This, according to her, makes intervention and treatment difficult with outcomes that could have been better if presented earlier.
Fasawe described the workers of the FCTA as “middle-aged, highly mobile, dynamic, and very active”, stressing the need to take proper care of the eyes for maximum productivity.
“Over the years, we have continued to strengthen our eye care delivery system in the FCT with the establishment of eye clinics in 10 secondary health care facilities owned by the FCTA.
“In all of these centres, quality eye care services are being delivered in our bid to reduce avoidable blindness and visual impairment in the FCT,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, with the cooperation of the World Health Organization has set aside the second Thursday of October, every year, for the celebration of WSD.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria