NGO offers free eye surgeries for 131 patients in North-Central

An NGO, on Thursday conducted free eye surgeries for 131 indigent patients in North-Central zone in its ongoing free eye outreach in Jos, Plateau.

The Coordinator of the Initiative in North-Central, Dr Valle Lohdip, said that the first batch of the outreach that took place on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5 was a success.

“We operated a total of 131 cataracts, we attended to 570 medical cases and we also dispensed 200 reading glasses.

“We are here for the second batch and as you can see the crowd is overwhelming.

“We have screened  about 70 cases today and we hope that at the end of the second batch, we will achieve our target of operating 350 cataracts.

“For the medical cases we don’t have a limit, but the cataracts cases are based on the items to be used.

“If you come here tomorrow, you will see how people will be celebrating restoration of their vision,” he said.

Lohdip said that they had few complications in the first batch that were not significant.

He said that some people had blood in their eyes after the operation, a condition known as hyphema but would be treated.

According to him, some of the people that came for the second batch holding on Nov.18 and Nov.19 were the ones that were operated on one eye and they were there for the second exercise.

“They are more or less like our ambassadors, if they were not satisfied, they wouldn’t have come back here today,” he stated.