The Abia State Eye Health Management Bureau has justified the establishment of 20 Vision Centres across the state’s primary healthcare centres (PHCs), saying the initiative is aimed at bringing quality eye care closer to residents and reducing avoidable blindness.

The Administrator of the Bureau, Dr Betty Emeka-Obasi, disclosed this while speaking with journalists in her office on the impact of the agency, established by Governor Alex Otti on July 15, 2024.

According to her, the Bureau was created to make high-quality eye health services available, accessible and affordable to Abians, while regulating the provision of eye care across the state.

Emeka-Obasi said the state currently has 20 functional Vision Centres located within PHCs, in addition to specialist eye-care centres in each of the three senatorial districts — Umuahia, Aba and Arochukwu.

She said the initiative was in line with Otti’s campaign commitment to improving access to quality healthcare services in the state.

The administrator said the intervention became necessary because conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma and refractive errors could lead to preventable blindness when patients fail to obtain timely treatment from qualified professionals.

She stressed the importance of early detection, proper treatment and regular compliance with treatment, warning residents against patronising unqualified eye-care practitioners.

Emeka-Obasi expressed concern over what she described as the high prevalence of glaucoma in the South-East, but said early diagnosis and adherence to treatment could prevent patients from losing their sight.

She also claimed that Abia was the only state in Nigeria with functional Vision Centres distributed across its PHCs.

Recounting the situation before the Otti administration, she said eye health had not received adequate attention in the state’s public health system.

“Eye clinics were left with obsolete equipment, inadequate infrastructure and no central coordinating body to set standards or hold anyone accountable for outcomes,” she said.

According to her, the situation changed after Otti declared a state of emergency in health, education and infrastructure, leading to the establishment of the Bureau through an executive order.

She said the Bureau began operations with a needs assessment covering the state’s 17 local government areas, which revealed that many facilities had no functional eye clinics and, in some cases, had only tables and obsolete equipment.

“We did not just start seeing patients, but building the standard operating procedures, needs assessment, infrastructure and state-of-the-art equipment,” she said.

Emeka-Obasi said a specialist eye centre was subsequently renovated, expanded and equipped with modern facilities, while a similar centre was established from scratch at Aba General Hospital.

She said the development had positioned Abia as a reference point for the establishment of Vision Centres within primary healthcare facilities, adding that other states were seeking to replicate the model.

Revenue, patient numbers rise
According to the administrator, the Bureau’s first year demonstrated that a well-managed public eye-health system could have significant impact while remaining financially sustainable.

She said the agency attended to more than 15,000 patients in its first year and increased revenue by more than 2,900 per cent from its starting point.

“In our second year, we built on the first-year foundation with greater ambition. We opened an additional eye clinic, established 20 Vision Centres within the PHCs to bring eye care closer to communities and grew revenue to N324,181,425.00, a further 139 per cent increase over that of the first year,” she said.

She added that the Bureau also deepened partnerships, expanded workforce training and reached thousands of residents who previously lacked access to professional eye care.

In its two-year executive summary, the Bureau reported that it had served 33,884 patients, provided free screenings to 31,125 people through 20 outreach programmes and generated N459.7 million in revenue.

It said revenue in the second year alone stood at N332.4 million, representing a 139 per cent increase over the first year, while direct coverage had extended to 14 of the state’s 17 local government areas.

Emeka-Obasi attributed the reported achievements to the support of the state government, Ministry of Health, partners and Bureau staff.