The Korean government has deepened its collaboration with Nigeria by providing free cataract surgery to impoverished people at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to eliminate avoidable blindness in their host communities.
At the three Vision Eye camps, which started on September 12, 2022, the medical staff of Vision Care and LASUTH conducted free cataract surgery on more than 160 needy patients.
Haeng Gu Kang, the consular general of the Korean embassy, expressed his joy at being a part of the initiative and said its goal was to restore sight to poor Nigerians who could have otherwise gone blind.
He pointed out that the sponsorships from Daewoo E & C, supported by the Korean government, would contribute significantly to improving healthcare in Nigeria, a global issue.
Speaking about the initiative, Yuna Kim, Medical Support Team Manager, Vision Treatment Korea, stated that since 2015, when the project started, over 1,700 patients had received free eye care. This is because the Korean community in Nigeria is committed to eradicating blindness among Nigerians.
According to Kim, the organization has given free cataract surgery to over 700 impoverished people who cannot afford to pay for the medical procedure as part of its efforts to end preventable blindness in Nigeria.
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She said that thanks to the social contribution efforts of LASUTH, the Korean community in Lagos, and the different sponsor firms, the objective of avoiding blindness in Nigeria had been made feasible.
For this year’s Vision Eye camp, 166 patients received free cataract surgery from the LASUTH medical staff and the vision care team.
Yeon Seop Jung, the executive director of Daewoo E & C, emphasized that supporting the project in Nigeria is a component of the company’s corporate social responsibility to its host nations.
According to him, the global healthcare industry is a key one that requires good finance since every contribution is welcome.
Jung expressed his gratitude to the leadership of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for having consistently welcomed the Vision Care Team and the Daewoo team.
For his part, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, praised the Korean government, Vision Treatment, and Daewoo E&C team for providing high-quality medical care for the needy in Lagos State for the last six years.
According to him, free cataract surgery is in keeping with the T.H.E.M.E.S. goal of the State administration, which also emphasizes cooperation to provide the public access to high-quality healthcare.
According to Fabamwo, there is an urgent need to provide this service to many health centers in the state owing to the significant number of individuals who have cataracts and other eye disorders but lack the financial means to pay for the procedure on their own.