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HEALTH

Eye specialist recommends comprehensive eye screening for Sawla-Tuna Kalba

Dr. Zakarea Al-hasan Balure, the Manager of Bliss Eye Care, a private eye clinic in Wa, has recommended a comprehensive eye screening for the people of the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba (STK) District in the Savannah Region.

Date Created : 5/17/2023 12:00:00 AM : Story Author : Philip Tengzu/Ghanadistricts.com

He said it had become necessary following the number of eye infection cases recorded from a free eye screening exercise organised for people within Jindabuo and its enclave in the district.

Speaking in an interview at Jindabuo after the screening exercise, Dr. Balure observed that if care was not taken they would end up having blind communities in the district considering the number of eye infections recorded.

The Bliss Eye Care organised the screening exercise which benefited 736 people in the area, out of which 532 had issues relating to medication, 16 had refractive errors, 29 people had Cataract and Glaucoma, and one person had Trachoma.

People within the STK district could only access eye care services either from Wa or Bole which discouraged many people from accessing those critical services.

All the people who went through the screening and needed eyeglasses were provided while those who required medication were also offered at no cost to the beneficiaries.

Dr. Balure said those who were diagnosed with conditions that required surgery would also be offered for free.

“Maybe we have to see how well we can make this often. If we don’t, we may end up having a needless blind community”, he observed.

The eye specialist appealed to benevolent individuals in the district as well as the Member of Parliament for the STK Constituency to support his outfit to organise the exercise and surgeries for the entire district.

He said there could be many people in the district who needed timely intervention to save their sights, hence the need to extend the services to their doorstep since some communities were distant from conventional eye care centres.

Mr. Braima Abass, the Assembly Member of the Jindabuo West Electoral Area, said the people in the area were prone to eye infections due to the hazardous works they do for a living, including farming and charcoal burning without recourse to the impact of those works on their eyes.

He said the long-distance that people in the area had to travel to Wa or Bole before accessing the services, coupled with the harsh financial situation they found themselves in prevented them from accessing the service.

Some beneficiaries of the screening exercise expressed gratitude to Bliss Eye Care and its partners for the intervention.

Madam Faustina Tendau, a beneficiary who received a reading glass, thanked Bliss Eye Care for the support saying, “At first I could not see to read, some of the words were always tiny, but with the glasses I can read well.”