Preventable eye conditions prevalent in north

A lack of access to expensive treatment as well as a shortage of eye doctors in northern Uganda is contributing to the spread of preventable conditions that lead to blindness, a senior health official said.

"Eye treatment is complicated and expensive, unless treatment is subsidized ... only a few people can afford it," said Ben Watmon, a senior government optician in the region of northern Uganda.

"The number of eye patients is overwhelming," he said, "I am alone in the region. The work is too much for me."

Watmon said there are only 47 eye doctors in the country, most of whom are based in the capital, Kampala, leaving many rural areas without access to quality care.

He was speaking during a three-day eye camp conducted at the Gulu hospital, the main referral hospital in the northern region.

"There is a need to check on the health problems leaving many people in the country blind," he said. Leading causes of blindness include conditions such as cancer, eye cataracts, trachoma and river blindness.

River blindness has ravaged several areas in the northern districts of Amuru, Gulu and Pader, rendering children and adults blind. The affected areas have wetlands that provide an ideal breeding ground for disease-causing organisms.

River blindness, also known as onchocerciasis, is caused by the filarial worm which is transmitted through the bites of infected blackflies. The disease is common in rural villages located near fast-flowing streams.

Infected persons do not always show symptoms, but a skin rash, eye lesions and/or bumps under the skin can occur. The eye lesions can progress to blindness.

Mass sensitization would also help reduce cases of blindness as well as break myths surrounding its causes, the minister of health, Stephen Malinga, said.

At least 228 eye operations were carried out of which 139 were cases of cataracts and 56 of trachoma in the three-day eye clinic.

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