The loss of each ophthalmologist to migration, otherwise known as “japa”, costs the Nigerian economy about $150,000 annually, the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN) has said, warning that the continued brain drain is worsening the shortage and maldistribution of eye-care specialists across the country.
The President of OSN, Dr Gloria Patrick-Ferife, disclosed this on Saturday in Abuja while presenting the communiqué of the society’s 51st Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference, tagged Abuja ASO 2026, held from September 2 to 4.
Patrick-Ferife said the society was concerned about the increasing migration of ophthalmologists and other eye-care workers, particularly the widening gap in access to specialists between urban and rural areas.
“The cost of losing one ophthalmologist was estimated at about $150,000 per annum to the economy,” Patrick-Ferife said, calling for improved facilities, security and welfare to make practising in Nigeria, particularly in rural areas, more attractive.
According to her, more than 24 million Nigerians are living with visual impairment, with cataracts, glaucoma, uncorrected refractive errors and diabetic retinopathy remaining the leading causes of blindness.
She noted that about 84 per cent of the visual impairment burden was preventable or treatable, stressing that Nigeria continued to experience a high prevalence of avoidable blindness despite years of interventions by eye-care professionals.
The OSN president said the conference, which attracted more than 850 ophthalmologists and ophthalmologists in training from Nigeria and other African countries, focused on “Reimagining Eye Care in the Digital Era”, with emphasis on ethics, care of the carer and the aesthetics of eye care.
She said the society identified inadequate and unaffordable cybersecurity, ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence, poor electricity supply, high data costs and a shortage of skilled personnel as major barriers to the digital transformation of eye care.
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Patrick-Ferife also expressed concern over the high cost of subspecialty training abroad, burnout among ophthalmologists and the need to retool postgraduate and residency training to reflect emerging technological developments.
She said the society would advocate greater use of teleophthalmology and artificial intelligence to extend eye-care services to underserved communities, stressing that AI should complement rather than replace human expertise.
“Government cannot employ all ophthalmologists everywhere. We don’t even have the numbers. But if we can leverage on what we have, leverage on the skills that are available in major centres, leverage on teleophthalmology, leverage on AI, on digital technology, we should be able to take eye care to the remote areas,” she said.
The society also called on the federal, state and local governments to employ more ophthalmologists and other eye-care workers to address the uneven distribution of the workforce.
It urged governments to create an enabling environment for specialists to practise in rural communities, while calling for increased investment in training and retraining, particularly in artificial intelligence, electronic medical records and digital diagnostics.
The OSN further called for the immediate integration of eye-health data into the National District Health Information System (DHIS) platform to strengthen planning and evidence-based decision-making.
Patrick-Ferife said the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had developed an eye-health dataset and that the society was awaiting its implementation.
“We hope, if this is done, eye health data will easily be on the DHIS platform, which is the National Health Data Platform. And that will help us with planning, advocacy, and all that needs to be done,” she said.
On the high cost of digital services, she appealed to telecommunications and technology service providers to offer incentives for healthcare-related data services, particularly those supporting digital eye-care delivery.
The society also advocated the use of solar power to support digital eye-care services at primary healthcare centres, especially in rural communities where unreliable electricity remains a major obstacle.
The society also raised concerns over the growing activities of quacks, unauthorised local and foreign health practitioners and alternative medicine operators in eye care.
Patrick-Ferife said OSN had begun discussions with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to address the broader problem of unqualified persons offering healthcare services.
“Recently, we had a discussion with the president of the Nigerian Medical Association because we hope to tackle it from the general angle with the medical. Because it’s not an eye-specific problem. It affects all health care aspects,” she said.
She said OSN had constituted a committee to collaborate with the NMA in tackling the problem.
Among other resolutions, the society called for the implementation of tax waivers on medical equipment and supplies, including digital eye-care equipment; improved access to modern technological equipment; continuous telecommunications networks to support digital clinical services; and the inclusion of vital parenteral intraocular medications for retinal disease management on the National Health Insurance Authority drug list.
The society also called for clearer delineation of professional boundaries among eye-care workers and an end to what it described as unhealthy rivalry and encroachment among professionals.
It urged ophthalmologists to uphold medical ethics and ensure that technology and automation did not erode empathy, effective communication, appropriate demeanour and workplace harmony.
The conference also noted progress in OSN membership, with the proportion of financially up-to-date members rising from 30 per cent in 2025 to more than 60 per cent in 2026.
The society said it would strengthen mentorship and promote wellness among its members while continuing collaboration with international and continental ophthalmology organisations.
The Vice President of OSN, Professor Abdukadir Rafindadi, said the society would continue to press governments at all levels to provide the infrastructure and security needed to attract and retain health professionals in rural areas.
He said the increasing urbanisation of Nigeria meant that digital eye-care solutions were also important for densely populated urban communities that remained underserved.
“Leveraging on digital technology is also very relevant to people in urban centres. Like, for example, now people in Mararaba and places like that, very densely populated areas, they may not have access to come into the big medical centres in town,” Rafindadi said.
He said the society was advocating both online and offline consultation models under which ophthalmologists could review patient data and screenings conducted at remote centres after their regular clinical duties.
According to him, such an approach would expand access to specialist care and contribute to reducing avoidable blindness.
Rafindadi also called for wider deployment of solar power at primary healthcare centres.
“There’s nothing Nigeria can do without solar power. Some states have been doing that. They’ve been increasing solar power coverage, solarisation of most of their primary health care centres. And we look forward to more across the state,” he said.
The Chair of the Conference Planning Committee, Professor Regina Morgan, meanwhile, urged the media to play a stronger role in public education on eye health and the challenges confronting the sector.
“The press has a lot to do too. Because you can help us with letting the public know many of these things. And even the government. Because by the time you say it all the time, people who were not ready to listen would get interested in whatever we’re doing,” Morgan said.
She urged journalists to help amplify the society’s advocacy efforts among policymakers and the wider public, saying the media remained crucial to drawing attention to eye-health challenges.
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