OSUN State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has said that 1,500 persons across the state’s 30 local government areas would undergo free eye screening and surgery.

The governor made this known on Tuesday, while speaking at the beginning of the medical mission in Iwo, headquarters of Iwo Local Government Area.

The programme was organised by the state government in collaboration with the Osun State chapter of Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria.

The governor, represented by his deputy, Mrs Titilayo Tomori, said that the government fully sponsored the programme because of its recognition of the fact that “the eye is the light of the body.''

Aregbesola reiterated his commitment to providing quality health care delivery to the people, while overhauling the entire health care delivery system of the state.

He stressed that the government had spent N220 million on the procurement of drugs for the free health programme.

``Several other steps have been taken to uplift our health care delivery system from the deplorable state in which we met it; these include the renovation of nine hospitals.

``Others are the purchase of additional 19 ambulances, procurement of medical equipment, furniture and electrical appliances.''

Earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Mrs Temiotope Ilori, commended the society for the programme.

Ilori recalled that Aregbesola launched the maiden edition of the free health programme in March 2011.

She conveyed the governor’s pledge to organise such health care missions regularly so as to reach more indigent citizens of the state.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/community-news/49432-1500-to-undergo-free-eye-surgery-in-osunaregbesola