A member representing Ekiti, Isin, Irepodun, and Oke-Ero Federal Constituency of Kwara state in the House of Representatives, Mr Tunji Olawuyi, has sponsored free eye treatment of 150 students in his constituency.
A member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in-charge of the programme, Dr Chimnecherem Onyeachu, who disclosed this, Friday in Ilorin, said the free eye treatment sponsored by the federal lawmaker formed part of his Community Development Scheme (CDS).
Onyeachu stated that the second segment of the event would hold on July 1, 2019, in Omu-Aran, headquarters of Irepodun Local Government Area of the state.
He said the programme involved funding of glasses and drugs for the 150 student beneficiaries, adding: “subsequently, eye glasses and drugs will be dispensed. The charts will also be dispensed.”
He said CDS was one of the true heartbeats of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, noting that in the simplest terms, visual impairment was a decreased ability to see to a degree that can cause the affected individual difficulty with normal daily activities such as driving, reading, socialising and walking.
Quoting WHO, he said approximately 80 per cent of visual impairments globally were considered avoidable, “In school aged children, refractive error is the commonest cause of visual impairments, especially in rural areas. In such rural areas, no measures are taken to reduce their burden in the community,” Onyeachu said.
He said uncorrected refractive error can hamper performance at school, reduce employability, productivity and generally impair quality of life.
The medical practitioner was of the view that the screening of visual problems in children may improve future vision and education achievement.
Alos, an aide of the lawmaker, Mr Abdulganiyu Salami, said one of the campaign promises of Olawuyi was to improve the health care of the people of his constituency.
He said when the proposal was brought before the lawmaker he keyed into it and did the needful to make the programme a success.
The lawmaker’s aide said the scheme would also cover students in schools in Ekiti, Isin, and Oke-Ero local government areas.
