The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) in collaboration with Onesight Essilorluxottica Foundation on Friday flagged-off the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative Nigeria (ESCIN), to increase access to eye care in the country.

The First Vision Centre in Lagos State was unveiled at the Alimosho General Hospital alongside the flag-off event.

Speaking during the event, Dr. Otero Okolo, National Coordinator of the National Eye Health Programme (NEHP), said the initiative was put together to improve and ensure easy access to eye care in the country.

Okolo said the programme, which was an initiative of President Bola Tinubu and implemented by the Federal Ministry of Health, was tagged: “Jigi Bola 2.0: Let Nigerians See.”

According to Okolo, an Optalmologist, over 800 million people globally have refractive errors or vision impairments.

The national coordinator explained that the initiative and unveiling of the vision centre was in line with the World Health Assembly’s global target for effective coverage of eye care by countries by 2030.

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Okolo said: “Eye care is very important and good vision is very critical to humans, and that is why this initiative of President Tinubu is to ensure that Nigerians have access to affordable glasses .

“Globally, it is estimated that over 400 billion dollars is lost every year in productivity as a result of poor vision.

“The eye glass is a 700 years old invention, yet people do not have access and that is why we have partnered with Onesight to increase access to eye glasses for every Nigerian who needs it irrespective of their age.

“The programme will also help to increase screening to enable eye expert detect symptoms earlier, and make sure interventions are implemented earlier to prevent vision loss.”

She commended the foundation for complementing government’s efforts through its support in improving eye care in the country.

The Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Tope Ajayi, said that the Jigi Bola Eye Initiative was introduced in Lagos State when President Tinubu was Governor.

Ajayi said over 200,000 residents of the state benefited from the programme then, noting that it has been re-introduced at a national level to target the needs of Nigerians as related to vision.

Speaking also, Mr Anurag Hans, the President of Onesight Essilorluxottica Foundation, said the organisation was committed to solving the problem of various eye impairments globally.

Hans said that eye impairments are the largest disability in the world, noting that two-thirds of the world population could not see clearly.

He disclosed that the foundation had initiated programmes to eliminate poor vision challenges in 120 countries and had also distributed 18 million glasses to people around the world.

“Most of the eye refractive errors can be fixed with a simple pair of eye glasses and the only sustainable way of solving this problem is to create permanent healthcare services to increase access to vision care.

“We plan to create this access to millions of Nigerians by the end of this year by working with our partners to prevent permanent vision loss in rural areas in Nigeria,” Hans said.

Also, Dr Ayodapo Soyinka, the Medical Director of the Alimosho General Hospital, Igando, commended the initiative aimed at strengthening the state’s capacity for efficient eye care delivery at the grassroots.

Soyinka, who also represented the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the collaboration between the FMOH, NEPH and Onesight would promote sustainable access to quality care within the health system.

“The choice of Alimosho as a centre to flag-off this epoch event is very strategic knowing fully well that it is the biggest local government in the state.

“This is something we have been looking forward to and it is beyond the hospital environment and the impact will be felt in the state at large.

“Apart from the inauguration of the vision centre, the foundation also provided consumables to the hospital that will last for a year to make the service free for everyone with eye defects to access care,” he said.