Nakuru residents have been urged to avail themselves for a free eye check-up when MACHO, an East African Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) tours the county.
According to the programme coordinator Zainab Juma, the two-week long programme targets all the sub counties and is aimed at reaching out to the people with eye problems who don’t make time to have professional check-up.
She says that as an organisation, they are out to make a difference to that person who still live in a misinformed perception that eye problems are not treatable.
“In our school of thought, we don’t believe in the saying that’ what you don’t know will never kill you. This is because many people are living with eye problems but don’t know that they are affected because they have never taken the bold initiative of going for check-up,” she said.
She said that majority of eye problems are self-instigated and can be treated if noticed at an early stage.
“For instance, we advise our clients to use concave or convex glasses from a professional optician, but what happens in the real sense? Patient chooses to buy any optical glasses at their disposal especially from hawkers which translate the situation from bad to worse,” she explained.
She attributes sickness like long and short sightedness to ignorance and lack of proper knowledge something she promises to change by the end of their time in Nakuru.
“All we call for is people to turn up, be tested and advised on how to live well to avoid eye sicknesses because the best doctor to any personal problem is yourself,” she noted.
On Wednesday, the group pitched camp at Pipeline area in the morning hours before moving to Naivasha.
She said they will liaise with different sub county health officers to come up with a reliable timetable that will be used in the coming days in their two week stay.