By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator for Wa East District, Samuel Dassah Ang-Nangmene, has paid tribute to Blissful Sight for Kids (BS4K) for organising free eye screening for school children at Funsi, the District capital.
The SHEP Coordinator said the initiative by BS4K is very dear to the hearts of education authorities because it will help to ensure early detection of children with eye problems for remedial measures to be taken.
Mr Ang-Nangmene also appealed to BS4K to extend the eye-screening exercise to other communities of Wa East because of its rural nature for more people to benefit.
He added that the intervention from BS4K with support from Ghana Vision, a Switzerland-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), will reduce the phenomenon where some people resort to self-meditation when they have eye problems.
During the Funsi eye screening, a total of one thousand and eighty-seven (1087) people were screened. Out of the number, one hundred and eighty-four (184) did not have issues with their eyes (normal eyes), but eight hundred and seventy-eight (878) had issues related to medication. Fifteen (15) of them had refractive errors (issues relating to eyeglasses), whilst ten (10) of the beneficiaries had cataracts and glaucoma.
The President of Ghana Vision, Martin Roost, who led a team from Switzerland to Upper West for the exercise, told the GBC that Ghana Vision was established as an NGO eight (8) years ago [2016] by like-minded individuals to support eye screening exercises in Upper West Region.
He noted that Ghana Vision normally mobilises resources in Switzerland and sends them to its partner, BS4K, to carry out its activities as far as eye care services for the people are concerned.
Mr. Roost stated that his late father, who was an optometrist, struck up a relationship with Dr. Zakarea Alhassan-Balure some 30 years ago, and he, as an optometrist, is equally continuing with that professional and social relationship to see to it that the health of the people in relation to their eyesight is catered for.
Mr. Roost indicated that Ghana Vision is gradually coming into the limelight and hopes to up its game in resource mobilisation from public-spirited individuals and organisations to carry out its objectives in Northern Ghana through the locals.
The Team Lead of Blissful Sight for Kids (BS4K), Dr Zakarea Alhassan-Balure, recalled that when he was in Senior High School, he came across a family of visually impaired people in Wa, and upon enquiry he was told that their condition started with minor challenges when they were young, but the needed medical attention was not sought; hence their visual challenges.
Dr. Alhassan-Balure said that encounter stayed with him and influenced him to train as an Optometrist and to reach out to the people with eye care services, especially to those in small communities who do not have access to eye specialists.
He said he initially used his clinic, Bliss Eye Care in WA, to reach out to people in the hinterland by selecting a community at random to provide free eye care services to them.
Dr. Alhassan-Balure announced that the partnership between Ghana Vision and BS4K is a scaled-up version of what he did through Bliss Eye Care. He said the synergy between Ghana Vision and BS4K is to help prevent preventable and avoidable blindness in children as far as possible.
Dr. Alhassan-Balure advised those in the villages to visit the nearest health facilities when they have issues with their eyes instead of resorting to self-medication.
