Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has urged Nigerians to ensure that their eye healthcare is carried out only by qualified professionals to avoid complications which might lead to blindness.

 The governor, who gave the advice when members of the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN), Delta State Chapter, visited him, said that people do a lot of damage to their eyes by visiting quacks and undertaking self-medications.

 “We run to anybody who claims to be an eye specialist when we have problem with our eyes, this has worsened the eye challenges in our society. We need to be properly educated on whom to see in the healthcare system when we have eye problems” he said.

 He continued, “I want to ask the Ministry of Health to ensure that private eye practitioners clearly state who amongst the eye healthcare professionals is running the eye clinics, they should state it in their sign posts whether it is an optician, ophthalmologists, optometrist or ophthalmic nurses”.

While commending the society on the celebration of the 2015 World Glaucoma Week which has the theme “Beat Invisible Glaucoma”, the governor urged Nigerians to always check their eyes as Glaucoma is a silent thief.

 “Most of us don’t bother checking our eyes until we have problems, when you have eye challenges it is not time to go to the chemist to buy yeast or vitamin A and put in the food. Please when you sense something see the eye healthcare professionals who can diagnose and treat the eye challenges” the governor stressed.

Dr. Uduaghan advised medical professionals to stick to their areas of specialization and refer patients to other professionals who can better manage the challenges to avoid complications.

 Earlier, the Chairman of the OSN Delta State, Dr. (Mrs.) Gloria Ferife, explained that they were in Government House to enlighten the people on the activities of members of the society and to create awareness on the silent killer, Glaucoma.

She explained that the World Glaucoma Week would be celebrated worldwide on March 14-18th but that because of the elections it was being celebrated this week in Nigeria.

 Dr. urged Deltans to ensure that they take advantage of the celebration to screen their eyes for Glaucoma.