By Ishaq Haruna Hardawa
The Department of Opthalmology Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital ATBUTH Bauchi is to commence free Glaucoma screening in commemoration of this year’s annual Glaucoma week.
The Head of Opthalmology Department of the Hospital, Dr Shahir Umar Bello made this known in an interview with Globe FM Bauchi.
Dr Shahir Bello explained that the World Glaucoma week is celebrated annually on the second week of March to create awareness on the ailment as the leading cause of irreversible blindness among people.
He said activities lined up for the week include free eye screening for staff on Tuesday and Wednesday, screening for the public on Thursday and Friday of the week, as well as lecture on Glaucoma at the Multipurpose Hall of ATBUTH Bauchi.
“The screening for Glaucoma just involved the eye extermination, interooculer pressure measurement and examine the back of the eye using an opthalmoscope to determine the person has Glaucoma or not, Incase of suspicions of existence of Glaucoma then the person need to have further investigation and enroll into hospital register to get treated”
The Head of Opthalmology Department emphasised that the exercise will only cover Glaucoma screening excluding the issuance of Glasses and medication.
Dr Shahir appealed to the public to avail themselves the opportunity to check the health of their eyes to safeguard their sight.
On her part, an Opthalmologist Dr Fumilayo Oyejide said according to a National Blindness survey, 8 out 100 people have Glaucoma, with 9 out of 10 people having no knowledge of the disease, a situation that leads to blindness in 5 before seeking medical attention.
“Last year when we did world Glaucoma week awareness somebody said he heard it on radio and came to the hospital by the time he come he was already blind in one eye so this one is not statistics that they saw on the field”
Dr Oyejide mentioned some of the risk factors of contracting Glaucoma to include hereditary, age, hypertension, diabetes, frequent use of steroids and people that use glasses.
“Out of those who are blind you find out that 2 people are usually blind in both eyes, I have patients who are just about 40 years they are already blind and generally we have up to 1.2million people who are 40 years and above who have Glaucoma. I keep telling people life begins at 40 but if you want your body to continue to work for you for the next 40 years then we need to take good care of our body”
She described Glaucoma as the silent thief of the sight and called for regular eye checks to ensure early detection and diagnosis as the disease don’t manifest symptoms at early stage.
The Opthalmologist advised people with Glaucoma to sustain medication to avoid further complications.
Dr Fumilayo Oyejide also used the medium to appeal to parents to always take their children for eye checks especially when they notice boldness and enlargement of the eyes big to prevent congenital Glaucoma.
“Sadly we have a couple of children that have Glaucoma if you see a child doesn’t want to see light and tears are always rolling down the eye so the good thing is for that Glaucoma ones it operated the damage is usually stop at that stage but if you keep the child for too long and the cornea is already damage then even after the surgery the child may not see”
The World Glaucoma Week is been celebrated from 9-15 March, 2025 a global campaign initiated by the world Glaucoma Association to raise awareness about the serious eye condition that is the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide.
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