Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Jide Idris, disclosed on Wednesday that 9,498 pupils in public primary schools in the state have various forms of visual impairment.
He said the discovery was made after a medical test was carried out on 74,000 pupils in the school.
Idris, made the revelation during a ministerial press briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos. He revealed that as a result of the finding, the School Eye Programme, was scaled up to include training of two teachers in each of the 1,001 public primary schools and installation of vision corridors in 180 primary school complexes while 501 schools was equipped with vision screening kits.
“The total number of pupils screened by the trained teachers was 73,694, out of which 9,498 had visual impairment. Follow up visit for the treatment of the pupils was carried out and 979 pupils were treated out of while 143 glasses were given.”
He said the Eye Care Services Development and Community Outreach interventions of the government resulted in the screening of 7,206 patients at 41 different screening locations. Out of this figure, Idris reveald that 4,396 were given glasses while 175 surgeries done.
The commissioner also revealed that 28 substandard hospitals and 319 illegal pharmacies which had been operating within the state have been shut down.
He said the hospitals were shut for reasons ranging from the use of auxiliary nurses to poor environment, adding that many did not even meet the standard set by the government while some pharmacies were not registered at all.
“While this number was shut down, the state Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) renewed the registration of 1,089 private health facilities and monitored 1,182 health facilities in the last one year and through the exercise, 114 health facilities were found wanting and served closure notices,” Idris revealed.
According to other reports given at the briefing, Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) officials received 5,654 emergency calls and attended to 4,447 patients of whom 2,216 were victims of road traffic accidents and gunshot wounds.
