{"id":38815,"date":"2022-10-17T20:55:49","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T20:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists"},"modified":"2022-10-17T21:05:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T21:05:50","slug":"govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists","title":{"rendered":"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Eye experts have tasked the government to increase the number of optic specialists to handle the increasing cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough institutions that give optometry or ophthalmology as an option of study. We only have two institutions; Makerere University and an instite at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital,\u201d Ms Esther Nafula, the operations manager of Lapaire Uganda, said during the commemoration of World Sight Day at their offices in Ntinda, Kampala, on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The day aims at raising awareness about eye diseases and prevention.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Nafula said in many communities, people are unable to acquire eyecare due to inadequate accessibility while others travel long distances to access the services.<\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson of Lapaire Uganda, Mr Oliver Mwanko, said the country has about 40 eye specialists (ophthalmologists) .<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is said we have one eye specialist for one million people. This raises the number of specialists to 40 in the country,\u201d Mr Mwanko said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe call upon the education sector to promote ophthalmology as a course so that we can have as many eye specialists as possible and this will enable Ugandans to get the service,\u201d Mr Mwanko said.<\/p>\n<p><b>Eye cases<\/b><\/p>\n<p>According to the Ministry of Health, there are 2.5 million adults and children who suffer from moderate and severe eye problems with 250,000 people blind in both eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Jackeline Baboneraawo, an eye specialist, said there are more than 100 eye diseases that need urgent attention.<\/p>\n<p>She cited cataracts, strabismus myopia and refractive errors which are the lead causes of eye impairment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only challenge is that most of our eye diseases don\u2019t come with pain and that is why they are not recognised at early stages,\u201d Ms Baboneraawo said.<\/p>\n<p>She advised the public to always go for eye regular checkup, saying some conditions can be rectified.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe brain receives 80 percent of what it interprets from the eye, meaning that the eye is a major organ and for us to help our brain to interpret our daily activities, we need to take care of our eye efficiently,\u201d Ms Baboneraawo said.<\/p>\n<p>She said eye cases among the children below the age of zero to eight years and has attributed it to parental negligence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome children are born with conditions that can be handled from birth,\u201d Ms Baboneraawo said.<\/p>\n<p>She advised the public to have a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables and to maintain healthy weight and get regular medical eye check-ups to prevent eye diseases among others.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\">Uganda<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Uganda. Eye experts have tasked the government to increase the number of optic specialists to handle the increasing cases. \u201cWe don\u2019t have enough institutions that give optometry or ophthalmology as an option of study. We only have two institutions; Makerere University and an instite at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital,\u201d Ms Esther Nafula, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":38814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-38815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Eye experts have tasked the government to increase the number of optic specialists to handle the increasing cases. \u201cWe ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eye experts have tasked the government to increase the number of optic specialists to handle the increasing cases. \u201cWe ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-17T20:55:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-17T21:05:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-17T20:55:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-17T21:05:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists\"},\"wordCount\":423,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists\",\"name\":\"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists - Uganda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-17T20:55:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-17T21:05:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Eye experts have tasked the government to increase the number of optic specialists to handle the increasing cases. \u201cWe ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/\",\"name\":\"Uganda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists - Uganda","description":"Eye experts have tasked the government to increase the number of optic specialists to handle the increasing cases. \u201cWe ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists","og_description":"Eye experts have tasked the government to increase the number of optic specialists to handle the increasing cases. \u201cWe ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists","og_site_name":"Uganda","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-10-17T20:55:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-10-17T21:05:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists","datePublished":"2022-10-17T20:55:49+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-17T21:05:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists"},"wordCount":423,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Uganda","uganda"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists","name":"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists - Uganda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg","datePublished":"2022-10-17T20:55:49+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-17T21:05:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Eye experts have tasked the government to increase the number of optic specialists to handle the increasing cases. \u201cWe ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_3-634dc3990cecd.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-tasked-to-increase-number-of-eye-specialists#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Govt tasked to increase number of eye specialists"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/","name":"Uganda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}