The Outcome and Challenges of Establishing a Vitreoretinal Service in a Resource-Constrained Economy

Background: To improve the quality of care delivered to patients, there was an intentional shift toward subspecialty training for specialists in the West African subregion. This led to the training of specialists and commencement of the vitreoretinal clinic at the Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH), Owerri, Imo state, Nigeria, with a view to rendering retinal care/services to patients presenting at the hospital. Objective : This study aims to present some results and challenges experienced during the first 30 months of running the vitreoretinal clinic at FTH, Owerri, Imo State. Methods : This is a retrospective review of the medical records of patients who attended the vitreoretinal clinic between January 2022 and June 2024. Data were collected on retinal disorders, investigations, and treatments received. Results : A significant number of patients attending the retina clinic had sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy (25.2%), followed by age-related macular degeneration (11.9%), and retinal vascular occlusion (10.5%). There was a yearly increase in the uptake of services at the clinic, but this was affected by the breakdown of the optical coherence topography machine from October 2023. Any P -value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Conclusion : Setting up a vitreoretinal service is capital-intensive and skill-demanding, and these challenges are further amplified in resource-constrained economies. The most common retinal disorders were sight-threatening but treatable. Advocacy and public–private partnerships are strongly recommended for the expansion of retinal services.