The Lions Club International has launched a humanitarian medical project it describes as unprecedented in eye care delivery and research for two major non-communicable diseases in Nigeria.
No fewer than one million Nigerian are fully blind while over four million are partially blind, according to Lanre Adebayo, a medical doctor and co-ordinator of the project.
There are 36 government hospitals that either specialize in eye care or have a department committed to it.
The Eye Care Hospital, Diabetes and Cancer Research Centre, which the club’s District 404 is setting up in Abuja, will fill the gap in Nigeria’s health system, Adebayo said in a press release April 19.
He also noted the reason for locating the project in the FCT: the high rate of blindness, mainly caused by cataract and glaucoma, across northern Nigeria.
The project will cater to the urban rich and poor, with a rural health extension service particularly for the poor in rural areas.
