Iremide Kasali, a 5-year-old girl, came into the world with cataract, but her parents did not come to terms with the condition early enough.

“We did not notice the condition early,” said her mother, Adebisi Aliu. “As a baby, each time she woke up from sleep, she would be crying, but I thought she was reacting to the way I used to put her to sleep.”

Adebisi, based in Sagamu, Ogun State, said it was later discovered that her daughter was battling cataract after a medical checkup.

She explained that due to the exorbitant medical bill, the required surgery could not be done.

“We went to UCH (University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan). We went to Ijebu Mushin and we were asked to pay N2.2 million for the surgery,” the mother said.

Adebisi said the visual impairment was taking a toll on her education.

“The condition has started affecting her education already because her teachers normally complained to me.

“Each time you asked her to write she complained of the eyes, most times I had to force to write something,” she said.

But reprieve came early in the month as Iremide and two other minors underwent an extraction surgery at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Idi Aba, Abeokuta. The other minors whose names have been kept under wraps are one-year-olds.

They were beneficiaries of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Foundation’s free cataract screening and extraction surgeries on 1,000 patients drawn from six states in the South West.

Pediatric Cataract

According to Pubmed, pediatric cataracts are one of the leading causes of treatable childhood blindness.

Pediatric cataracts are a major cause of preventable blindness worldwide, especially prevalent in developing countries where late diagnosis often results in symptoms such as nystagmus, poor fixation, and complete cataracts.

It contributes to 5% to 20% of childhood blindness and severe visual impairment globally, with an incidence rate between 1.8 and 3.6 per 10,000 children annually. The global prevalence ranges from 1 to 15 per 10,000 children.

Dr Peter Abikoye, Consultant Ophthalmologist and Head of Department, Ophthalmologist, FMC, Abeokuta, explained that cases of cataracts among minors fall into two categories.

He said, “It may be congenital cataract in which case the child is born with it. This might be as a result of maternal infection like toxoplasmosis or cytomegalovirus during pregnancy. It may also be due to metabolic derangements like galactosemia in the child or genetic defects.

“The other category is developmental cataract. In this case the child was not born with it. This also might be due to ocular infections, trauma, metabolic disorders among other causes.”

The expert said the occurrence of cataracts in children “is very impactful as it impedes visual development in that child. This holds true whether the cataract occurs in one or both eyes of the child.”

 

Inside the Extraction Surgery

Daily Trust gathered that over 1,150 patients were screened for the NNPC Foundation’s free surgery and confirmed to need the surgery in the different locations in Ogun State. Three of them were minors.

Total surgeries of over 600 including the minors have been concluded.

However, surgeries for the minors were delayed due to their age unlike the adults whose procedures were done on record time.

After a week’s delay, their surgeries at the ophthalmology department of the Federal Media Centre, Abeokuta, were carried out by a team led by Prof. Feyisayo Grace Adepoju. When they emerged from the theatre to inform their colleagues that the extractive surgeries of the three minors who were born blind were a huge success, there was a shout of joy.

 

Parents, staff of the department, and well-wishers were seen congratulating the parents of the minors.

Abikoye, the team lead of the exercise in Ogun State, explained that paediatric surgery cannot be done hurriedly.

“Ordinarily, we don’t undertake such surgeries, but when the NNPC Foundation heard about it, they told us that we should do all we can to enroll them for this surgery,” he said.

To address the pediatric cataracts, he recommended early treatment by surgery and subsequent monitoring “as the child grows are the keys to achieving results in all cases.”

While flagging off the free surgery exercise, the Managing Director of NNPC Foundation, Barr Emmanuella Arukwe, at the FMC, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, said the gesture was part of the organisation’s drive to combat challenge of vision impairment and preventable blindness in Nigeria.

The MD who was represented by Mrs Teniola Abu noted that visual impairment said the 1,000 free cataract surgery programme, which commenced in the South West, will expand to other geopolitical zones across the country in the coming months.

“Through this programme, we aim to provide free cataract screenings, surgeries, and public education on eye health. We anticipate restoring sight to up to 1,000 individuals in the South-West. Beyond the numbers, this means transforming lives—helping breadwinners regain their livelihoods, empowering students to pursue their studies, and enabling individuals to experience the joys of life once again,” Arukwe said.

One of beneficiaries, Mr Bankole Rahman, applauded the foundation, saying the gesture has gone a long way in reducing out-of-the-pocket spending of the beneficiaries.

“This is the second time I am undergoing this surgery. I spent N270,000 on the right eye. I have been battling this (vision impairment) for about ten years.

“We are happy with the gesture and urge the foundation not to rest on their oars,” he said.

According to the WHO, vision impairment poses an enormous global financial burden with an estimated annual global productivity loss of about US$ 411 billion purchasing power parity. This figure far outweighs the estimated cost gap of addressing the unmet need of vision impairment (estimated at about US$ 25 billion).