The federal ministry of health says it will integrate eye care into the primary health care services and reach the underserved in remote areas.

Afekhinde Omoti, the national chairman of the ministry’s eye health committee, announced this in Abuja on Thursday during a media engagement in commemoration of the 2022 World Sight Day.

“Before now, as part of its commitment to preventing avoidable vision loss, the country developed the national eye health policy in 2019, which was adopted by states and the Federal Capital Territory. The national eye health policy provides a framework for collective direction to scale up eye care delivery at all levels of care,” stated Mr Omoti. “It will provide an interface for all stakeholders to galvanise action for development in eye care. It is also a sustainable approach to achieving equitable access to quality eye care and strengthen Nigeria’s health system towards universal health coverage.”

According to him, the aim is to achieve this through the integration of primary eye care into the primary health care in “our health system, thus reaching out to the underserved in the remote areas of this country.’’

He explained that the policy would help to improve the accessibility of women and the elderly to eye care since they are the most affected and that under his watch, the ministry domesticated policies in the ‘National Primary Eye Care Trainer and Trainee’ manuals through the collective input of stakeholders.

Mr Omoti further stated that the policy provided a framework for collective direction to scale up eye care delivery at all levels of care and provide an interface for all stakeholders.

(NAN)