The Lions’ Club, Region 9, Ekiti State in Collaboration with the state teaching hospital has extended humanitarian gestures to Pupils of the School of the Blind, Ikere-Ekiti by offering free consultation and eye screening test.
The screening exercise took place on Wednesday, at the Department of Ophthalmology, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado-Ekiti.
The Chairman, Lions’ Club, Region 9, Lion Olatunji Adeyemi said that it was established to put smiles on the faces of the less privilege in line with its five cardinal service point – vision, paediatric cancer, feeding the hunger, environment and intervention.
Adeyemi added that the screening exercise was a continuation of the programme they had during the world vision day in 2021, noting that 19 pupils were selected afterwards for further examination.
Equally, Adeyemi revealed the organization’s plans to foot the bills of any pupil for further medical care, such as operation to enable them regain their sights since it was gathered that they are partially blind.
In his words, “This is a continuation of the programme we had with the school at the tail end of last year during the world vision day.
“During the exercise, we did a preliminary screening and we discovered that about 19 of them are not permanently blind. We brought them to the Department of
Ophthalmology EKSUTH to further enquire about the state of their sights.
“The school is typically for the Blind and all the hopes of these 19 students are already dashed but we are trying to revive that hope for them to see again. After the screening some of them that need operation will be sponsored by Lions’ Club to regain their sights.”
On their part, the management of EKSUTH have assured its continuous partnership with Lions’ Club in touching lives through their programmes.
The Head, Department of Ophthalmology, Dr. Kayode Ajite, stated that EKSUTH will provide its technical support to help mitigate the rise of blindness among the citizens of the state.
He said, “We have been in collaboration with Lions’ Club for couple of years. They do a lot of prevention of blindness programme.
“In conjunction with the Ophthalmologist, Optometrist and the Lions’ Club, we will go ahead to use our specialties to examine them thoroughly and ensure that we find out that there is no blinding disease.
“EKSUTH management is well posed to ensure that we have all the technical persons to help these pupils/patients because each time we have patients that need surgical intervention, Lions’ Club either fully sponsored or subsidize it.”
In their response, the Principal, Government Special School for the Blind, Ikere-Ekiti, Amogbojaye F.B, expressed her appreciation to Lions’ Club for their willingness and humanitarian services in ensuring that some pupils receive medical care.