The Lagos State government plans to designate one of its general hospitals as a center for ophthalmic specialty to enhance care for patients with eye conditions.
The Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, disclosed this during the fourth Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Africa Retina Society on Thursday in Lagos.
The event was themed, “Upscaling Retinal Services in a Resource-Constrained Economy.”
According to Abayomi, the center will provide world-class diagnostic, medical, surgical, and ophthalmic services in Lagos and Nigeria. He emphasized that the state will prioritize eye health by developing the screening capacity of all its primary healthcare facilities to detect eye diseases early.
“The conditions that affect the eyes very much reflect the conditions of the community in which you live. HIV, for example, was a major problem in South Africa, and I certainly experienced the impact of HIV on our day-to-day medicine and practice. Here in Nigeria, we have other issues. We have hypertension, diabetes, sickle cell, and lots of trauma. These are the kinds of conditions we see in our clinics here in Lagos and Nigeria. We need to understand how these prevailing conditions really affect us,” he said.
The commissioner further mentioned that efforts are ongoing to promote eye screening, especially in schools, starting with the training of teachers to detect students exhibiting challenges with their vision. He added that the state would leverage social health insurance to screen, detect, and treat eye diseases as patients present at health facilities. The state also aims to strengthen public awareness and understanding of eye health, particularly regarding glaucoma and visual acuity.
Abayomi disclosed that the state, through its Ministry of Health, had partnered with the Chagoury Group to develop a specialist eye hospital in Lagos to boost access to eye services. He acknowledged that ophthalmology is equipment-intensive and stressed that the government would focus on providing the necessary equipment and human resources to enable practitioners to make appropriate diagnoses and treatments, thereby reducing medical tourism.
Speaking earlier, Prof. Linda Visser, Head of the Division of Ophthalmology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, called on policymakers to integrate eye screening into diabetes care at the primary healthcare level, noting the increase in cases of diabetic retinopathy among Africans. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a chronic progressive disease of the retinal capillaries associated with prolonged high blood glucose levels in people with diabetes.
Visser cited data from the International Diabetes Foundation showing that 537 million adults aged 20 to 79 years are living with diabetes globally, with the number predicted to reach 1.3 billion in 50 years. She emphasized that the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes is rising rapidly worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where healthcare services for screening and treating diabetes-related complications, such as retinopathy, are often limited and unaffordable.
According to Visser, all persons with diabetes are at risk of developing DR, especially those with poor blood glucose and blood pressure management and hyperlipidemia. She highlighted that early detection and timely treatment of DR could prevent 95 percent of vision impairment and blindness.
Dr. Asiwome Seneadza, Chairman of the Africa Retina Society, noted that the theme of the conference was timely and critical as efforts are made to navigate the complexities and challenges in delivering advanced retinal care across the continent.