An NGO, the Charity to Cheers Foundation, in collaboration with Premium Pensions Limited, have provided free cataract surgery for 75 aged and indigent persons in Zaria, Kaduna state.
Hajiya Maryam Mohammed, the President of the Foundation, who spoke at the opening of the two-day outreach programme in Zaria, said the foundation was supported by Premium Pensions Limited, to conduct the surgeries.
She disclosed that 40 of the beneficiaries had already undergone the surgery on Friday, while the rest 35 were billed for Saturday.
According to her, the beneficiaries were mostly senior citizens, who could not afford the cost of the surgery at a health facility.
She said 45 persons benefited from a similar exercise by the foundation in Dec. 2020, also with the support of the Premium pension managers.
Mohammed added that the foundation was still seeking more support from other key stakeholders to up-scale the programme.
The Head of Business Development at Premium Pensions, Mr. Ismail Abdussalam said the support was part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility interventions nationwide, aimed at touching the lives of people at locations where it operated.
Mr Bitrus Dauda, Chief Optician, Gambo Sawaba General Hospital, commended the foundation for choosing the facility for the programme, saying that the hospital conducted cataract surgery twice a week and on the average over 120 cataract surgeries monthly.
He appealed for more equipment to improve service delivery in the facility, adding that with improved equipment, the hospital would have the capacity to conduct over 200 cataract surgeries monthly.
Also speaking, Dr Faruk Garba, Consultant Ophthalmologist, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, and head of the surgical team, said with improved equipment at the facility the team could do more surgeries.
He said the Kaduna state government had subsidized cataract surgeries at the hospital at a current cost of N17,500 for patients, as against the N100,000 and above, being charged by private hospitals. (NAN)
