Fruits of partnership with CIDIMUC: Magrabi ICO Cameroon Eye Institute operates over 350 sight-restoring cataract surgeries.

The ongoing campaign targets over 350 cataract operations. It follows a free screening campaign held in the Briqueterie neighbourhood in Yaounde, Eseka and Ebolowa health districts, respectively, in the Centre and South regions.

The high point of the campaign was marked by the visit of CIDIMUC Coordinator, Dr Moussa Oumarou, accompanied by a huge delegation of CIDIMUC officials. 

In light with the campaign, the persons identified with cataract problem during the screening phase, mostly elderly, were transported to and fro, lodged, feed, and operated for free by MICEI. 

Speaking to the press during the visit, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of MICEI, Dr Henry Nkumbe, said as of the afternoon of Wednesday July 10, some 130 cataract cases had been operated upon.
Noting that cataract remains one of the highest causes of blindness in Cameroon, the MICEI executive regretted that the number of cataract surgeries performed annually in the country is insignificant to the needs. 

“Cataract is the first cause of blindness in Cameroon and there are many people who don’t get consulted in some cases the condition gets worse. In Cameroon, we are performing less than 25% of cataract surgeries we should be performing every year. So, the need is huge but the supply or work we are doing is very limited,” Dr Nkumbe said. 

The current campaign, Dr Nkumbe explained, stems from their vision of working with partners, civil society and community leaders to reach out to people who need cataract surgery.

“The Muslim community is a very strong and well organised community and that is the reason we decided to work with them to reach out to people who would otherwise not be able to benefit from sight restoring cataract surgery,” he stated. 

While acknowledging that their community outreach programmes have mostly been in the Centre and South regions, he attested that they plan to reach out to communities in the East and northern regions and hope to achieve this with the help of CIDIMUC. 

“We just started the partnership and we are in discussion to look at other ways to improving access to eyecare for Cameroonians who are unable to afford it and are going blind needlessly. I believe there’s a lot in the pipeline,” Dr Nkumbe averred. 

Calls for concerted effort to fight blindness

According to Dr Nkumbe, there is need for people to get on board and work in synergy to ensure that the people do not go blind unnecessarily when they could have sight-restoring surgeries. 

“We are providing free surgery treatment to patients because someone somewhere has decided to sponsor it. We have a lot of Cameroonians who, in some cases anonymously, provide support for people who can’t cover their surgery fees. People support with 10,000frs, 4 or 10 million FCFA and so on,” he said. 

He added that “the first way to be part of this initiative is to partner with us and supporting us to provide sight-restoring cataract surgeries to people who can’t afford, otherwise would stay blind”. 

Dr Nkumbe then urged all and sundry to get their eyes examine regularly to avoid getting blind with its consequences. 

“My appeal to all Cameroonians is they shouldn’t wait for free campaigns like this one. Get your eyes checked regularly by the age of 40 every Cameroonian should have had a complete eye examination at least once and from the age of 40 everyone should be checking their eyes every one to two years,” he added.  

CIDIMUC Coordinator hails MICEI

After a tour of MICEI facilities, the CIDIMUC Coordinator was visibly satisfied as he also encouraged the staff for their endeavours. 

Dr Moussa Oumarou later met the beneficiaries of the campaign with words of encourage as they recover from the operation.

“You know health wise things are not moving well, and we have a lot of faithful who are unable to have treatments,” the Coordinator said.

He continued that: “When the hospital contacted us, we were happy even before engaging to mobilise the population and resources knowing that we could bring joy to our faithful. The mobilisation was strong and the hospital did the necessary to screen and operate the patients”. 

“We came here today to thank the hospital and the call for more cooperation,” Dr Oumarou emphasised.

It should be recalled that this is not the first time that MICEI is reaching to the communities. The hospital has in the past, organised free screening and operation campaign targeting the communities that are unable to afford surgery.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3165 of Thursday July 10, 2024