Africa-Press – Uganda. The Overseas Pakistanis Global Foundation Africa, a welfare NGO, has petitioned the Office of the Vice President, seeking land where to construct a Shs5b specialised hospital to offer free eye surgeries.
The organisation has been extending free eye care treatment countrywide, but said with a specialised hospital, more patients can benefit.
In an interview with Daily Monitor on Monday, Iftikhar Sikindar Cheema, the founder and president of the foundation, said a budget of $2.5m (Shs.9b) has been set aside of which part of it (Shs5b) will cater for the hospital.
They target to conduct 5,000 cataract surgeries in Uganda by 2024.
“We have conducted cataract surgeries in Lango, Acholi, West Nile and Teso sub-regions and we find that mainly elderly Ugandans aged between 70 and 105 years, need either eye glasses or cataract surgeries because of exposure to too much sunshine. You can do without legs or hands but you need eyes,” Iftikhar Sikindar said.
He said since December last year, they have held three eye surgery camps in Lira District but most of the patients they attended to were travelling from the Teso districts of Serere, Soroti and Katakwi.
This prompted them to contact Dr Elizabeth Apio, the head of the Eye Unit at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital, who linked them to Vice President Jessica Alupo. Ms Alupo, who is also the Katakwi Woman MP, consequently mobilised her community to participate in the camp last week.
According to Dr Dennis Nsubuga, who participated in the surgeries, they screened more than 1,000 patients for cataracts but they could only operate 564 in the four days as they camped at the Katakwi District headquarters.
They treated 3,000 patients for other diseases and when they left, the rest of the patients who were not attended to, complained to the vice president.
“I met the vice president last week and she told me the situation is terrible. Thirty percent have allergies, 35 percent have glaucoma and the rest have cataracts because their lenses are worn out due to old age and exposure to sun rays,” he said.
Dr Simon Ichumar Omeke, the Katakwi health officer, said Teso requires specialised eye services because Soroti Hospital does not have a fully-fledged eye care unit to carry out outreach services.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
