Anya Kalu: Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme Has Provided Succour to Many  

Consultant Ophthalmologist and Phaco Surgeon at Anya Specialist Eye Clinic in Umuahia, Dr. Anya Kalu, in this interview with Charles Ajunwa and Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo, spoke on the contributions of Senator Theodore Orji in the area of eye care in Abia State, among others

Can you tell us about the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme?

Well, I must thank Senator T.A.Orji, we call him Papa Ukwu for his uncommon interest in eye care, for his dedication over the years in eye care. Coincidentally, at his 71st birthday one of the things that crossed my mind was that this was the same man that built the first ever standard eye clinic in Abia while he was governor of the state. Even when he left office in 2015, he designed and instituted his own progranme – The Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme – which has been modified one after the other to include other necessities. So, we have the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme which he signed on Tuesday, October 17, 2017, and he mandated me to proceed on training in Phacoemulsification Cataract Surgery. When we mention Phacoemulsification surgery people mistakenly call it Laser Cataract surgery but it’s Phacoemulsification Cataract Surgery where the machine does the surgery.

I’m the first beneficiary of the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme. He insisted on quality, he insisted on high level manpower. ‘If we don’t train highly trained manpower’ according to him,’ any project you start will crumble before you no matter how much you invest in it’. So, the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme now started on January 6, 2018 after I came back to the country. Between 6th of January we had three things he told us. One, reassure me that this programme will be sustainable. Two, make plans that will be a five-year project of Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme between January 2018 to December 2022. Three, even after the project is over make a plan to have consistent continuous low-cost services in that process, we can say that the project has succeeded. So, we now divided the eye surgery project into three phases. Phase 1 is to test run logistics, to test run sustainability, to test run feasibility of this project. Will it even work? He gave us three months to report back on Phase 1. Phase 1 was simple, let the patients only pay for materials that will be used in surgery and that includes everybody in Abia Central Senatorial District. Everybody in Abia South and Abia North Senatorial zones, everybody in the South-east and everybody in Nigeria. So as far as you are a human being Ochendo says help the person and that was where he now told us whatsoever good you must do, do it. It might be coming back to you later on. So, by the end of March 2018, it was obvious that the project called Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme would be sustainable.

It was obvious that low-cost eye surgery would be feasible in Abia State and it was certain that we can have a programme that will last five good years and if possible, if the programme is wind up by the Senator that the gains will be maintained in years to come. So automatically, first of April were authorised to now start Phase 2 of the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme. The Phase 2 of the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme is now as expected limited to those of his Abia Central Senatorial zone whereby he gives free eye surgeries. Now, you ask me how many people have benefitted from the surgeries? I can tell you they are in their thousands. For those in Phase 1 they are in their thousands and I have lost counts. I’m happy that we have done so much in Phase 1 and everybody has access to low-cost surgeries and hi-tech low- cost surgeries.

Hi-tech cataract surgery in Lagos ranges from half a million naira to about N1.5m. But under the Senator T.A.Orji Eye Surgery Programme you pay only N68,500. Tests, scans and other investigations you will do if it were in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt you might be spending N100,000 to N150,000 but under the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme the highest you will spend is about N30,000. We give you medications that will last you for one month if you use them carefully and that is all included in the Senator Orji Eye Surgery project. So, you now see the reason why I say sustainable low-cost hi-tech eye programme and the outcome speakers for itself. That is Phase 1 and I’m happy to say that I cannot remember the number because many people have benefitted from it.

For Phase 2 where the Senator gives out free surgeries to members of his senatorial zone it started in April 2018 and we have a lot of videos of people who were saying ‘thank you’ to Senator Orji. Many people have benefitted in their hundreds and this information is in the theatre records.

But we had a challenge in 2020, at the beginning of 2020 the Senator had asked us to prepare for 100 free surgeries. In fact, the plans were at advanced stages. The COVID-19 hit us hard and mass gathering was prohibited and as I speak mass gathering has not been lifted. So we have not had that pleasure of giving massive free cataract eye surgeries. In fact, the Senator has authorised that the low cost should not be tampered with to let people afford it. And we have discovered one thing, our people are not as it were that unfortunate per se, our people are only looking for where to access quality eye care services and that is where I’m very proud to say ‘Thank You’ to Senator Orji for giving us an opportunity to have quality. If he didn’t train me, I’m not sure there will be quality. People would have been going with their millions to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, but now we do the quality and people are happy.

There is this video of a woman trending in the social media who was blind in two eyes but she regained her full sight before she left your hospital. Can you throw more light on this?

The video trending on social media is that of one Mrs. Esther Nduka. She had been blind in both eyes, difficult to remember when actually the blindness started that she couldn’t see at all. Senator Orji gave back a woman who was nearly out of this world, hope, joy and you could see the smile on her face each time she heard my voice and I reminded her she is a lucky woman. Another person that the Senator sponsored her surgery free was one case very unfortunate 14-year-old female. She just discovered that she was not seeing in both eyes and by the time we did a normal laboratory test, we discovered that her sugar was 572. If you know what 572 sugar levels means it’s enough to kill anybody in a 14-year-old child. Immediately, I picked my phone and called Senator Orji and pleaded with him and each time you pick a phone and call Senator concerning free eye surgery the answer is ‘Yes, go ahead and let me know the details’. So, we took the child to the theatre knowing full well her condition we invited other specialists to help us bring the sugar down, other specialists to help us standby in case we had any challenges. So, it was a multi-specialists approach we used for her. After the surgery we had to readmit her again for three more days to make sure that the sugar doesn’t go up high.

There is Ochendo Phase 3 which he insisted must occur which is to train others since you have been trained to train others and that is why the next building from here is a training institute which I named after Senator Orji. So, the name of the training institute is Senator Orji Eye Surgery Training Institute to immortalise the name of the man who has invested his life in the betterment of the life of others in prevention and elimination of blindness in Abia State. The institute has received international recognition and I have had two of my classmates sponsoring surgeries also in support of what Ochendo was doing. I have had a company that supplies equipment and doctors as a training centre for people that buy equipment from them and they gave me the honour of being a surgeon trainer for them. How would I have become a surgeon trainer if I was not trained? So, I’m looking backwards now and I’m like Ochendo made me who I’m today. So, we are training both eye surgeons, optometrics, nurses that work in eye clinics, and we have space to train opticians. Now because training is regulated by international, regional and national bodies so we can’t have full permission to train.

Concerning Mrs. Nduka, how is she recuperating after a successful surgery?

Madam Esther Nduka was just unfortunate in the first place by going blind. Seeing her today you will know that she is a smart woman. The first day I saw her after surgery she was not using a walking stick. This was the same woman that couldn’t walk without walking stick she started walking by herself and her weight has reduced and she now walks about because we did Phacoemulsification surgery which is called the laser surgery. She is back to her life; she even comes for a checkup by herself and she makes sure that her medications which we gave her in large volume are still with her. And because she did in both eyes, she is likely going to need more medications but as for the wound healing is exceptional. If you don’t see you may never believe.

How long did this highly specialised training last and in which country?

Before you go for highly specialised cataract surgery training, you must have been an expert in basic cataract surgery training. I had been in basic cataract surgery training since 2006 till 2017 before I travelled out. So, I had done tens of thousands of manual cataract surgeries, so I was already an expert in manual cataract surgery. It was easier for me to migrate to machine surgery. They spent one week teaching me how to use the machine and after one week I was able to perform the machine surgeries because of my basic manual cataract surgeries. And I trained in Bangladesh and Senator Orji paid all the bills for my training.

Was the Senator responsible for acquiring the machines?

No. The machines were acquired by us but we went in the name of the Senator and got installment payments. These are machines that cost nearly N9 million. Where will I get that kind of money from? I was in partnership with the Senator, the company allowed me to pay in instalments. Like Jesus will say, ‘a man gave his servants empowerments five talents, three talents and one talent.

I guess I was the one Ochendo gave three talents to, so I had to invest in it and I had to put my energy into it. I had to reproduce results and I didn’t behave like the one that put his one talent in the ground. The kind of job I do is highly skilled and maybe you should know because of what I have done, an international company wants me to be their surgeon trainer. I have trained somebody in Enugu to be able to use the machine. Hospitals in Abia State only one have the machine but they have never opened it from the cartons since 2014. The company has gone generations away from that machine and I have told them the best advice I could give. Return it to the company now and I’m working with them I will speak up for you on behalf of the company so that they will give you a new one you will lose a little but you will gain finally.

I have had two people come from the Western part of Nigeria to be trained in the use of this hi-tech machine courtesy of the partnership with the international company and I have been put on notice that another person might be his way. So, since I have been put on notice I’m hoping and expecting when the person comes we do the training. What I’m saying is simple, any eye surgery project that must be sustainable must first of all have some back ups

The training programme, is Ochendo also sponsoring them especially those from Abia?

Ochendo has sponsored the training of John, one of my staff in Lagos as Ophthalmic instrument maintenance. John knows how to maintain that hi-tech machine and he knows how to maintain every hi-tech equipment you see here. Ochendo trained Ifeanyi also in maintenance of hi-tech equipment. Ochendo trained seven people on how to assist in hi-tech eye surgery and one nurse Ochendo is sending her out this November to go and be certified as Ophthalmic Nurse and she will be away for one year.

From your experience how prevalent is eye disease in Abia State?

 0.7 per cent of the population of Abia State is blind. Abia State is projected to have a population of 4.5 million people as at 2021. 0.7 per cent of that number is blind and we are looking at probably 40,000 and out of which 43 per cent are caused by cataract. So those were the reasons why Ochendo selected some eye diseases to be attacked. Number one, remove the highest cause of blindness people will start seeing. Number two is Glaucoma. Glaucoma contributes 17 per cent of blindness and Glaucoma is the highest cause of blindness you can never get back. If you are blind from cataract, you can get it back but blindness from Glaucoma you cannot get it back. But Glaucoma treatment starts from basic knowledge and basic information and that is why Senator Orji Eye Surgery Programme that I mentioned has had so many expansions. One, Ochendo Radio Health Programme which is more than one year now in two radio stations in Umuahia – Love FM and Flo FM. We started with Flo FM first and about mid-way into the time we now joined in Love FM. Flo FM is dedicated for basic information about the eye while that of Love FM is a gift Ochendo gave to the Nigerian Medical Association to use as a medium to disseminate basic general health information to everyone. Today, we are helping people with diabetes, everyday we are helping people with hypertension. Ochendo has picked up bills from people with diabetes and hypertension.