By Chidi Nkwopara

OWERRI—Many eye clinics that fell below the ethics and standards, guiding the practice of eye care in the country, have been closed down in Owerri, Orlu, Mbaise and Okigwe, by the Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Registration Board of Nigeria, ORDOBN.

The Board also prohibited the conduct of eye care outreaches by individuals or organizations in the state without its authorization.

Similarly, the sledgehammer equally fell on quack opticians operating along the streets, markets and schools, while optical shop owners were restrained from refracting, dispensing and fitting lenses.

Some of the charges leveled against the sanctioned clinics included not operating in unhealthy environments, non-engagement of unqualified personnel, deficiency in modern practice methods and failure to fulfill their mandatory obligations to the Board.

Explaining their action to newsmen, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of ORDOBN, Professor Ebele Uzodike, said that the Federal Ministry of Health set up the task force to check the activities of quacks in the profession.

“The unethical practices of these quacks have sadly resulted in increasing rate of blindness in the country. The Board is out to eliminate the activities of quacks, whose unethical practices had resulted in the increasing rate pf blindness in the country,” Prof. Uzodike said.

Continuing, the ORDOBN boss called for synergy in the campaign to push quakes out of eye care delivery in the nation’s health sector.

Speaking also, the Imo State chapter Chairman of Nigerian Optometrists Association, Dr. Martin Ohiri, wondered why Nigerians still patronize quacks, despite the regular sensitization of the citizenry on the dangers posed by these quacks.