Eye doctors at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital are concerned over the lack of prioritization for eye checks which is leading to preventable blindness.
Dr. Vicky Akun, the head of the Eye clinic at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital says that while it is required that people attend eye checks at least once a year, most people only visit the eye clinics when they start to feel pain or start going blind.
Akun explains that conditions like Glaucoma described as the silent thief of sight can be treated once diagnosed early but that most patients report late since the condition is usually painless.
She however says that annual eye checks can help doctors detect the disease early and treat it.
At least five cases of Glaucoma are detected weekly at the eye clinic, according to Akun.
Statistics from the department shows that they attend to between 600 to 800 patients from Acholi and parts of Lango Sub region per month with majority of the cases being cataract.
Akun says that 70 % of the surgeries they carry out at the clinic are for cataracts while the rest are for eye lid tears and perforated growths.
The Eye Health Systems Assessment (EHSA) report indicates that Uganda has a significant prevalence of blindness among the over-50s, primarily due to preventable conditions like cataracts.
Justine Muboka
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