Rotary celebrates world sight day in Ibadan

As part of activities to mark this year’s World Sight Day (WSD), Rotary Club of Ibadan-Jericho Metro, on Thursday, joined millions of people across the globe to celebrate WSD in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

WSD is observed annually on the second Thursday of October to focus global attention on vision impairment and blindness as this year’s theme is ‘Hope in Sight’.

According to President of the Club, Seyi Alaba, said the programme was to create greater awareness of the need to give the necessary attention to eye care, adding that the Rotary Club of Ibadan-Jericho Metro is ready to care for people with vision impairment and blindness next month.

Speaking at the presentation of face mask to the Consultant Ophthalmologist in charge of Eye Outreach, Dr Olutoke Ayorinde, Alaba said there was hope for people with vision impairment and blindness, just as he assured them of support of the Club.

“Today is a World Sight Day and we all aware that a lot of people have a problem in reading and with their sight, and Rotary Club of Ibadan-Jericho Metro, have been able to partner with Ophthalmologist Society of Nigeria, Oyo State chapter in the last one year as well as the Eye Outreach Department at the University College Hospital.

“What we have been doing is to reach out to people who have sight problems and they cannot afford the treatment bills. So what we do is that we partner with these consultants which are the professionals in this field to offer free eye tests and free eye treatment to people and to some that require surgical operations like cataract patients; we also sponsor them to overcome their challenges.

“So, we are going to assist some people with eye problems, especially the people that require operations next month.

“According to the theme of this year, Hope in Sight, it means that all hope is not lost because we have the professionals here and we know the major problem most times, people don’t have money to pay the bills for surgical operations or to correct their eye defects. So, we are trying to assist these people as much as possible,” he said.

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In her address, Olutoke Ayorinde lauded Rotary for their selfless service and said there is hope in sight only if the people with such a challenge want their sight restored.

“There are some people who have lost sight and one can’t help them because this is irreversible blind, but the truth is that we also have a number of people you can help but are not willing to be helped because of what they get as benefits daily in the name of alms begging as a result of their physical condition.

“We will keep creating advocacy and we hope the situation will improve where people restore their sight and go back to what they are doing before and still be gainfully employed. I am sure these people would soon realise that it is worth having their sight restored compared to financial benefits they receive from people who pity blind people through monetary donation,” Ayorinde said.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE