A 'thank you' and sight from India
By Bertram Nwannekanma, Isaac Taiwo and Pepetua Uzowuru
AN indigene of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Sunday Uki, had an accident two years ago following which his sight began to fail.
He could not see clearly and to his great alarm, the problem got increasingly worse as time went. When he went to hospital for a check-up, he was told to pay N45,000.00, which he could not afford.
He told The Guardian he had all but resigned himself to his probably losing his sight completely when he heard about the free eye service being offered by the Indian community in Nigeria in association with Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO), Indo Eye Care Foundation, Rotary Club of Lagos-Palm Groove Estate and the Lagos State government.
During the programme, which was held for three days at the Lagos Island General Hospital, Marina, Uki had his turn.
On Friday, Uki who could not hide his joy told The Guardian he now wakes up, confident he would see the beauty of the day and his environment, which had hitherto been almost impossible for almost two years.
" I was almost blind but now I can see once again, thanks to the Indian community in Nigeria and Rotary Club of Lagos-Palm Groove Estate.
But for them, I do not know what would have become of those of us who have benefited from their kindness and expertise.
"I had gone to seek remedy for my blurred vision but was told to pay N45, 000.00 and even then, I was told there was no assurance that I would see again.
But today after the operation, I can see very well again and another wonderful aspect of it is that it was all for free. We did not pay any thing."
Joining Uki in expressing her gratitude, another beneficiary, Mrs. Agnes Dina, had been suffering from cataract in the past two years and had been unable to drive.
She told The Guardian: "Since I had this problem, I could not drive. I had to hire a driver. But all that belongs to the past, because I can now see perfectly well and can drive myself again."
She continued: "I was marvelled at how the young doctors treated us.
They were very patient, active and not offended.
Even when I was being difficult during the operation, they all seemed to understand, were not upset and remained humane.
I pray God to reward them accordingly."
There was also a six-year-old girl, one of the beneficiaries who excitedly told her mother: "Mummy, I am very happy that I can see you very well now."
Such commendations were common from the hundreds of people who benefited during last week's "Save The Sight, Spread The Light," programme which started in 2005.
It is a continuation of the free eye care service, one of several that have been conducted across Nigeria under the auspices of Indo Eye Care Foundation, NIPCO, and Rotary Eye Institute.
It was learnt that of the over 7,000, who had so far benefited across the four cities in Nigeria since the project began, about 3,000 people had free eye surgery.
The head of the team of doctors, Dr. Viral Purohit of the Rotary Eye Institute, India said the programme, which has taken them to Kano, Kaduna, Abeokuta, Abakaliki and Lagos was a way to say 'Thank you' to Nigerian-based Indian industrialists and philanthropists, which included Mr. N.G Patel and Mr. Ramesh Kansagra, who had contributed so much in India.
"I was looking for a way to say 'thank you' to them for what they have done in India.
Then I said, the best way would be to go to the country that has made them rich and help the people there."
According to him, the eye -care situation of many Nigerians was not really good because of the great number of less privileged people. Such people, he said, found it difficult to take care of their eye ailments due to financial problems, lack of knowledge on basic care, bad hygienic conditions as well as very inadequate facility in comparison to the population.
During the exercise, the team of Indian eye specialists and others from Nigeria screened over 5000 patients from different parts of the country for eyes defects such as cataract, glaucoma, pterygium and partial blindness due to burns.
Speaking on the project, Dr. Purohit, said the eye screening exercise was initiated four years ago.
He said: __"We started in 2005 when we had an interaction with the industrialist in Lagos, Mr. N.G Patel who has been here for long. A charity-oriented person, he visited our Institute in India and has been a supporter of that charity in India.
We Indians express gratitude to those people who support causes like this.
"If I say 'thank you' to Mr. Patel, I also need to say thank you to the people of that country where he made his wealth.
"We came to Nigeria and saw that a huge number of people needed eye-care and that, here, the facilities are not adequate to take care of the problem.
So we started meeting with our Indian industrialists who started to support the project," he said. _
With the help and support of the Indian community and some Rotary Clubs in the United States, Rotary Club of Navsara India and Lagos -Palmgroove Estate, Nigeria, the project took off with the objective to help the needy in Nigeria.
But, it goes beyond that.
The Indo Eye Care Foundation, The Guardian was told, and with support from both the Indian and Nigerian communities is hoping to build a Specialist Eye Hospital in the near future.
The Lagos State government has already donated a parcel of land to the foundation for that purpose.
__According to Mr. Patel, the first time the free eye tests were conducted, they were surprised to see about 70 children below years the ages of three suffering from cataracts in each and both eyes, and whose parents couldn't afford the cost of treatment. __"We saw that there were so many cases of eye problems in the country.
So we knew we had to do something fast about the situation because there were hundreds of people being operated in private hospitals and since not many people could afford that, a lot of people were going blind.
We, therefore, embarked on this programme each year."
__The 'Save the Sight Spread the Light' free eye screening exercise involved 13 Indian medical personnel who came with all the required equipment and who worked in partnership with some Nigerian doctors.
Dr. Purohit said: " What we are doing will be a continuous exercise. We usually announce when we want to do this in the newspaper and local radio.
We have gone to Lagos, Kaduna, Abeokuta, and Adamawa, as we have to be invited by the state government.
"We want to help, but they have to make a request since when we come, we would require certain support from the government such as a hospital and operating theatre to be used in the areas," he added.
The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu II, who visited and witnessed some of the operations, could not hide his delight.
He thanked the Indian community for coming to Lagos to help the people.
The monarch, who led other white-cap chiefs to the hospital, appealed to the Federal Government to allocate more funds to the health sector for better service delivery, especially to the states and local councils.
According to him, health care delivery should not be left to be managed from Abuja, as the country was very big.
He lamented the situation where a three-year-old that suffered from cataract could have gone blind but for the intervention of Indo Eye Care Foundation, NIPCO and Rotary Club of Lagos-Palm Groove Estate, Nigeria and called on government to be alive to its responsibility.
