By Akpan Udo-Inyang
CALABAR -The Cross River State Chairperson of National Orientation Agency( NOA), Dr. Ogechi Cecilia Chukwu, has identified 18 blind individuals and 48 people with advanced cataracts requiring urgent surgery in the recent eye care intervention outreach survey in Ekori community, Yakurr Local Government Area of the State.
Also, a 2022 survey by University of Calabar Teaching Hospital( UCTH), estimated that about 210,000 residents in Cross River suffer from visual impairment, with burden heavily concentrated in rural areas.
Chukwu, revealed this during free medical outreach organized by Nigerian Optometric Association, as part of activities marking 2026 World Sight Day in Calabar.
The outreach, was for the Southern Senatorial Zone and it featured free vision screenings, distribution of about 200 reading glasses and eye medications, and training of teachers to detect early signs of visual impairment among pupils and students.
Speaking at the event, Chukwu, said the outreach was targeted at educators because of their critical role in shaping children’s future, which depends heavily on good vision.
She, however, raised alarm over deepening eye care crisis in rural communities, warning that severe shortage of optometrists in the state civil service was exposing residents to quacks and preventable blindness.
According to Dr. Chukwu, Cross River currently has only two optometrists in its civil service, a situation she described as alarming for a vast state with high burden of visual impairment.
“Right now, we are carrying out outreach in Calabar in Southern Senatorial Zone, but we have to pull optometrists from Calabar to serve other zones due to zero presence of professionals in those rural areas” she further said.
While appealing to Cross River government to urgently employ and deploy optometrists to underserved areas, she disclosed that “In these rural areas, people are exposed to quacks posing as eye care professionals.”
According to her “They give wrong diagnoses and harmful prescriptions that ultimately lead to irreversible blindness” adding that “these preventable cases are growing because eye problems are not caught early.”
To address manpower gap sustainably, NOA boss, called on Vice-Chancellor of University of Calabar to establish Department of Optometry, noting that while Arthur Jarvis University recently introduced the programme, UNICAL’s involvement would train more indigenes who would stay back to serve local communities.
“Cross River is a vast state, and reaching many remote communities is extremely difficult. If UNICAL establishes Department of Optometry, more indigenes can train locally, graduate and stay back to serve” she also said.