The community living at Sekenani Village in Maasai Mara Narok County benefited from free eye medical screening conducted by a team of specialists to avert the spread of eye infections.
The exercise dubbed ‘Screening Mashinani’ which was conducted under the auspices of the Rotary Club of Maasai Mara, comes just days before the Free Surgical Camp in Narok, slated for September 27th to October 1st.
While addressing the press, Catherine Mutula, the Rotary President-elect, said the programme aims to cover more than 1,000 patients from the region.
She has, however, called upon other well-wishers to come on board for the noble exercise to help those in the community who were in need.
Doctor Amos Kiptoo, an eye specialist from Narok Referral Hospital, said cases of eye infections are quite rampant in the area due to the living conditions and poor hygiene.
‘Eye infection is one of the silent vision killers in the community today. We received cases of allergies, fungal infections, and a large number of cataracts, and it is a big problem in the area,’ Kiptoo said.
According to the doctors, women and children are the worst affected, but the situation gets worse with each passing day due to lack of medication and awareness. People living in dry areas as well as pastoral communities are also at high risk.
The doctor is calling upon more stakeholders to come on board to educate and create awareness about the importance of hygiene.
Narok County Natural Resources Network Chairman, Nicholas Murero, urged other stakeholders to come on board to work together with Rotary to make sure Narok residents benefit from free medical screening.
Murero appealed to Narok residents to take advantage of the free clinic and have their eyes checked for visual problems.
Silvia Masoi, a beneficiary and Sekenani resident, said they were happy when they heard about the eye medical screening.
Masoi narrated that the community living in the village has challenges accessing clinics as they travel long distances for checkups.
She added that people in the village use traditional herbs to treat their eyes, which was endangering their vision.
But after all was done, the residents were more than happy, as they now had hope for restored eyesight.
Source: Kenya News Agency