Bliss Eye Care, a private eye clinic in Wa, organised the screening service in partnership with HiChale, a non-government organisation (NGO) in Kalba, in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District, Savannah Region.
The initiative was part of the Blissful Sight for Kids (BS4Ks) project, which was implemented by Bliss Eye Care, an eye clinic in Wa, in partnership with Ghana Vision, a Swiss-based charity organisation.
In all, 698 children had their eyes screened, out of which 103 had normal eyes, 563 had Pathological issues related to medication, 27 had refractive errors and needed eyeglasses, and five had cataracts and glaucoma.
The children who needed medication or eyeglasses were offered at no cost to them or their parents.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the exercise, Dr. Zakarea Al-Hassan Balure, the Manager of Bliss Eye Care, reiterated the need for parents to take their children’s eye care very seriously.
He said good eyesight was indispensable in achieving good academic performance hence the need for every child to have good eyes.
“Our mission is to save eyes, especially for children, that is why we decided to extend our service beyond the boundaries of the Upper West region,” Dr. Balure stated.
Mr. Emmanuel Dari Kuusane, the Executive Director of HiChale, said the exercise had helped educate the people in the community on the importance of good eye care and regular eye checkups.
He said though there had been health screenings organised in the community that was the first time they had eye screening in that community, which he described as a “privileged blessing” to the community.
Mr. Kuusane, however, discouraged the people from relying on free health or eye screening services but to get their children’s eyes screened regularly as part of their responsibilities as parents.
He thanked Bliss Eye Care and Ghana Vision for partnering with his NGO to offer free screening services to the children in the community.
Bliss Eye Care has been offering free eye screening to learners since 2016 and has since impacted the lives of thousands of children in the Upper West Region and beyond with a focus on children in rural communities.
That was because rural children’s distance from eye care centers coupled with financial challenges prevented them from accessing that critical service.
It was worth noting that the intervention by Bliss Eye Care was contributing significantly to achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 and 4 on health and education respectively by 2030.
Target 3.8 for instance sought to “Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.”
GNA
