Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, will be inducted by the Ophthamological Society of Nigeria (OSN), as the Ambassador for Sight in Nigeria.
Obasanjo, alongside others, will be inducted at the opening of the 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Scientific meeting of OSN at thePremier Hotel, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC), Dr Benedictus Ajayi, who disclosed this, stated that the implication was that Obasanjo would promote regular eye check among the people in the country.“People need to take eye diseases seriously and that is why we are using this medium to create awareness through this means by inducting people of high standard in the society to promote eye test among Nigerians.
“We need more Nigerians and cooperate outfits to join us to reduce eye blindness in the country. First Bank Plc, too will be the first cooperate outfit to assist us in creating awareness on this, they will not give us funds, but they will only carry the message for regular eye examination to the people,” he said.
He also disclosed that OSN will be launching the society’s advocacy project, ‘Passion Partnership for Sight Initiative of Nigeria’, which aims to eliminate avoidable blindness in Nigeria.
Earlier in his address, the President of OSN, Professor Sebastian Nwosu, revealed that a research conducted in 2007 shows that one million Nigerians are blind, while over three million are also partially blind.
Nwosu stated that most of the eye diseases such as Glaucoma, Cataract which resulted into blindness are avoidable if detected early by the victims.
“The way the world is going, we can’t abandon everything about healthcare delivery to the government. We need to partner with private individuals to move eye care forward, this will save our people from visual impairment and total blindness” he said.
