The Benjamin Kalu Foundation, in collaboration with Vision Saver Eye Care Limited, has kicked off a National Action Against Blindness Project, with a three-day medical outreach in Bende federal constituency of Abia State.
The Foundation, which is the brainchild of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, held the outreach in Bende local government area between October 13 and 15, 2023.
A statement signed by the Special Assistant to the Deputy Speaker on Press Affairs, Udora Orizu, on Wednesday, stated that the outreach was essentially aimed towards providing free eye care services, treatment, and medical services to the constituents.
The exercise witnessed a massive turnout of constituents, who needed medical attention for their eyes with over 1,200 people receiving medications, medical eye glasses, and cataract surgeries.
The medical team, consisting of highly skilled Opticians, doctors and medical professionals, worked tirelessly to ensure that each patient received the necessary treatment and care.
Speaking, when he received progress report from the team, the Deputy Speaker emphasised that the project was not just for Bende Federal Constituency but for the entire nation as well.
Kalu said: “The beauty of Nigeria that a man from the North will identify with me, and the problems of my people in the South-East, and abandoned his comfort in the North, relocated to the South-East my place, spend time with my people to be able to solve their problem of blindness.
“It’s the type of Nigeria we are looking for, a Nigerian that knows that the pain in the South-East is the pain in the North, and that we are all connected to one another and we must be bothered with what is bothering one another.
“I’m proud of the vision savers, the cost analysis was good, their response time good, their professionalism good, the impact is massive. We wanted to treat 1000 people and you ended up treating 1200 plus. And I want to thank my team from the office, Chief Daniel Akwari for monitoring this from the start to finish.
“I am promising you, because you left a lot of people unattended to, we have to go back, and we will keep going back until we resolve the issue of blindness in Bende, in Abia, in South-East and in Nigeria.
“I will make sure it becomes one of my constituency projects to take care of these ones. Last time I did national health insurance scheme for them and we captured thousands of them to be receiving treatment.
“But this one the impact is immediate, from the eye surgery, we should be looking at how should we take care of dental issue of my people. How do we take care of malaria and other health issues, as their representative, it’s one of my concerns.
“We will go to the North, I’m going to be sending you to go to Kaduna state, under my sponsorship, you will go to Zaria where my Speaker comes from and look at the challenges there, I do it to celebrate my relationship with the Speaker. To take care of his people as well, he’s like a big brother, he’s a good leader.”
In their separate remarks, beneficiaries from the three-day programme appreciated the Deputy Speaker for the kind gestures and prayed for God’s protection and guidance as he continues to lead the constituency and also contribute to nation-building.
