Skipper Eye-Q Expands Lagos Facility, Promises Affordable Service

Specialist eye hospital, Skipper Eye-Q Nigeria, has added an operating theatre equipped with various facilities to its Ilupeju centre in Lagos State for affordable cataract and glaucoma operations, and to save cost for patients who would have gone for foreign treatment.

Commissioning the expanded facility, the Founder and Chief Medical Director of Eye-Q Group, Dr. Ajay Sharma, said the equipment are high class and comparable to what obtains anywhere in the world.

“What we have done today is an expansion of our organisation and there will be further expansion in seven or eight months. We are looking out for more space for more investments because we know that there is a high population in need of our services.

“We also made the services in Ilupeju more affordable to the people compared to the charges in Victoria Island (the first centre) because we want everyone to patronise our services,” Ajay said.

For easier access to treatment, he disclosed that the hospital was working out instalment system as well as membership card, which will attract discount, among several other strategies being explored.

He disclosed that in addition to the first branch on Victoria Island and the third, which was recently opened in Abuja, “we have added superb facilities, including operation centres (to the pre-existing Ilupeju centre). We have theatres and do surgeries for cataract and glaucoma.

“We also intend to commence surgeries for retina at this facility soon. We have treatment procedures and facilities for retina, which, is a very important part of the eye.  There can be changes in the retina following diabetes and other illnesses which can eventually lead to blindness.”

He decried medical tourism, insisting that facilities at Eye-Q will reduce foreign medical trips and end the capital flight and wastages on Forex. According to him, “20 years back, Indians thought the best treatments were only available in other nations, but today India has become a medical hub globally.

“With what we have achieved in all three centres in Nigeria, there is a transition because these facilities can compete with the best in India. There is only one eye bank in Nigeria and that’s a difficult situation. We have done over 30 eye transplants in our facilities.

“So, for people who think that going out of the country is the only way to get the best eye care, we can authoritatively tell them that they can get the best service in Nigeria. They will also be spending less because there will be no need for the travel expenses.

“We are also stopping capital flight because the money which goes to other countries for the service is now retained in Nigeria to grow the nation’s economy.”

Also, the Medical Director, Dr. Temitope Omowunmi Tijani, noted that the airfare to hospitals abroad is enough to get anyone quality eye care in the country, while regretting that several people go blind with glaucoma while gathering money to travel abroad for treatment.