Material Resources For Eye Care Delivery In Urban South-Eastern Nigeria

Objectives: To determine the availability and distribution of material resources for primary and secondary level eye care delivery in Enugu-North Local Government Area (LGA) of Enugu State. Methods: A survey of Public (State and Local Government administered) health care facilities in Enugu North LGA was done. The health map of Enugu North Local Government Area was read to identify available health care facilities. Each facility was visited. A pre-tested, observer–administered questionnaire was used to interview the administrative heads of all the health care facilities in the LGA. The population of the Local Government Area was obtained from the Enugu office of the National Population Commission (NPC). Results: The population of the area is 522,926. These persons are distributed in the three health districts as follows: Coal Camp – 157,179, Asata/Ogui – 157,577 and New Haven – 208,170. There are fourteen public primary and secondary level health care facilities in the Enugu North LGA. These are unevenly distributed in the three health districts of Coal Camp (64.29%), Asata/Ogui (28.59%) and New Haven (7.14%). Altogether primary level health care facilities made-up 13 (92.9%) of the facilities while there is only one (7.1%) secondary level health care facility in the LGA. Materials for eye care are available in only the secondary level health care facility. The materials for basic eye care in the primary level health care facilities were limited and were only found in 61.54% of such centres. Basic drugs for eye care delivery were always available in 4 (28.97%) centres; occasionally available in 4 (28.97) centres; and unavailable in 6 (42.86%) centres. Conclusion: The materials available for eye care delivery in Enugu North LGA are inadequate. The available materials are unevenly distributed. The possible reasons for the uneven distribution are, historical, political and geographic. These findings constitute barriers to uptake of eye care services Key Words: Eye care, material resources, availability and distribution of material resource. Orient Journal of Medicine Vol.16(2) 2004: 13-18