Abia State government, in collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) Foundation (NNPCF), has booked 477 out of the pre-screened 1,399 patients for the free cataract surgeries.

The surgeries will commence with three children aged below ten years who were born with congenital blindness at Abia Specialist Hospital and Madonna Hospital in Umuahia, and the General Hospital in Aba.

The State’s Health Commissioner, Prof. Enoch Uche, who flagged off the exercise on behalf of the state governor, Dr Alex Otti, warned the citizenry against patronising unqualified medical personnel, expressing worry over the reported global 50 million cases of human blindness caused by cataract.

He, therefore, enjoined the people to always undergo necessary eye tests, reiterating the administration’s resolve to collaborate with organisations to provide healthcare services to Abia residents.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, NNPC Foundation, Mrs Emmanuella Arukwe, said that cataract was the cause of 43 per cent of blindness in Nigeria and that the foundation was planning to make free surgery a yearly project.

She explained that the free cataract extraction surgeries programme was started in January 2025 in the South West zone for Lagos and Ogun States, but has now been extended to the South East and South-South zones.

“We are excited to be of help to people that had lost their sight and have sight challenges, with the hope that their lost sight would be restored or corrected.”

According to her, cataract is preventable, and every effort should be made to save the eye because “without sight one can do nothing. Our target is 1,000 beneficiaries in the restorative eye surgeries in Abia State,” Arukwe said.

She said while some blindness can be treated with early detection and treatment, most indigent patients lack resources to go for eye checks and or surgery. Arukwe said the impact of the free eye surgeries is that those who regained their sight would contribute to the nation’s economic growth.

In her remarks, the Administrator, Abia State Eye Health Management Bureau, Dr Betty Emeka-Obasi, disclosed that a statewide publicity was undertaken for the exercise, including at the grassroots and commended the medical personnel involved in the exercise.