Eye Health Hero: Felix Okwudilichukwu Nwarienne

A future leader indeed… Dr Felix is dedicated, hardworking and committed to eye care practice. He is passionate about the well-being of patients, and works cordially with other practitioners to ensure better prognoses for patients under his care.

Since the commencement of his career as an optometrist in 2017 at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano state, Nigeria, he has been actively involved in programs aimed at eliminating the avoidable causes of blindness and the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) in the state. In 2020, he established a low vision clinic that currently runs every Thursday at the facility that takes care of patients living with severe visual impairment. He has served as a consultant optometrist for the Christoffel Blinden Mission (CBM) International / Health and Development Support Program (HANDS) for the ‘Seeing Is Believing’ program which delivered Comprehensive Child Eye Healthcare including prevention, promotion, treatment, and rehabilitation as well as education for children with blindness and severe visual impairment within communities of Kano State. He successfully dispensed about 2, 000 spectacles and low vision devices to children within the ages of 0-14 years after conducting school-based eye screening for primary and secondary school students in selected schools and screening for children living with albinism. Through this intervention, many children who were wrongly enrolled in the school for the blind were returned to the normal school as their vision improved with the low vision devices.

His love for humanitarian activities motivated him to execute a community development service project in the Kano Municipal Council local government where the provision of free eye care services such as free cataract surgeries, eyeglasses and medication were made available to the host community free of charge. All these earned him the President Honors award, Kano State Governor Honours award and letters of commendation from the Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN), Kano State Branch; the Optometrist and Dispensing Optician Registration Board of Nigeria (ODORBN), and the Optometrist of the year award 2021.

As a member of the Public Health Committee of the Nigerian Optometric Association, he is actively involved in the planning of the 2021 world Sight Day programs in Nigeria.

His commitment to the service of humanity led to his involvement in numerous outreaches that aimed to take quality eye care to those in rural areas. He has always strived to better himself as that consequently leads to improvement in the care of patients.

“I believe volunteerism is an effective way to bring social change and build positive relationships through effective use of interpersonal skills, knowledge and time. With this in mind, eye care service has been an avenue to contribute my quota to the humanitarian works being done across the world. There is nothing else that gives me greater joy than the prayers I receive and the smiles I see on my patients or their caregivers, whom I might have given the best of eye care. I pledge my continued support and participation in all activities aimed at providing comprehensive eye care service in Nigeria.”

– Dr. Felix Okwudilichukwu Nwarienne