By Chiroma Ali Ibrahim
In his genuine determination to reduce the prevalence of cataracts and other related eye diseases, the Borno State government has approved cataract surgery for ten thousand patients across the state.
Governor Babagana Umara Zulum announced the approval when he flagged off cataract surgery for one thousand patients, facilitated by the Senator representing Southern Borno, Muhammad Ali Ndume, and supported by the Borno State government.
The mass free eye surgery camp is a collaborative effort between the Borno State government, Senator Ali Ndume, Nigerians in the diaspora, and Saudi philanthropists.
The exercise, which targets one thousand patients, already has a record of one thousand four hundred and fifty-seven patients who turned up for the operations.
Modu Zawam is one of the three hundred and four beneficiaries of the first phase of the cataract surgery, holding at four designated hospitals across the metropolis.
Governor Zulum, who was briefed by the Health Commissioner, Professor Baba Mallam Gana, and the Medical Director of the Eye Hospital, Dr. Yagana Kyari, on the processes involved, said no one will be left out in the process.
The Governor noted that the operations will be carried out in Biu and Monguno eye hospitals, with each attending to three hundred patients, while four hundred patients will be attended to at the Maiduguri Eye Hospital.
He also announced that each patient operated upon would receive fifty thousand naira, while all cadres of workers involved in the surgery would get one hundred thousand naira.
The facilitator of the free eye surgery, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, said the surgery idea, which he conceived in 2007 but was put on hold in 2011 due to insurgency, is part of his policy to give back to society.
Senator Ndume applauded Governor Zulum’s extension of the free surgery to cover ten thousand patients, describing it as the first of its kind.
Leave a Reply