Hundreds of residents from Kitgum and neighbouring districts are turning up at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Kitgum, to benefit from a free eye care outreach that has drawn an overwhelming response since its launch.
Health workers at the facility reported that more than 200 patients were screened on the opening day alone, with numbers expected to rise steadily throughout the week-long exercise.
Dr Dennis Kamara, the hospital’s ophthalmologist and Head of the Eye Unit, says the outreach, running from April 13 to April 17, was organised to expand access to eye care services, particularly for residents who cannot afford treatment.
The exercise is being conducted both at the hospital and at Paluda Health Centre III, targeting hard-to-reach communities and refugee settlements.
According to Dr Kamara, the strong turnout shows a growing demand for specialised eye care services in the region, where many people continue to live with untreated vision problems.
He noted that the hospital’s eye unit attends to between 500 and 1,000 patients each month, translating to an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 annually.
Of these, about 40 per cent require spectacles, underscoring the high prevalence of refractive errors in the community.
Cataracts remain the leading condition requiring surgery at the facility, while eye allergies, particularly among children, are among the most common conditions treated with medication.
By URN
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