By Philip Tengzu
Tumu, (UW/R), April 10, GNA – Bliss Eye Care, a private eye clinic in Wa, has presented eyeglasses to 24 school children in the Sissala East Municipality, after they were diagnosed with various eye conditions that impeded their effective participation in academic activities.
The clinic conducted a free eye screening and treatment exercise for about 305 children at the weekend, out of which 24 had Refractive Errors and required eyeglasses to aid their vision.
Another 241 of the screened pupils had pathological issues and were given medications, 15 had Cataract and Glaucoma while, but 25 of them had normal eye sights.
The exercise formed part of the Blissful Sight for Kids (BS4Ks) project being implemented by Bliss Eye Care in partnership with GhanaVision, a Switzerland-based philanthropic organisation as part of efforts to enhance the vision of children for their effective participation in academic and social activities.
Dr Zakarea Al-Hassan Balure, the Manager of Bliss Eye Care, said eye conditions such as Refractive Error obstructed the child’s academic performance, which the project sought to address.
He said the level of conditions discovered in Tumu was an indication that there were more children with eye conditions that were yet to be discovered and assured the people of more screenings to further diagnose and treat children with eye conditions.
Dr Balure, an Optometrist, reiterated the need for proper eye care, especially for children to avoid the possibility of having “needless blind communities” in the future.
He said though there were solutions to most eye problems, people felt reluctant to seek those solutions and advocated attitudinal change among the people for them to seek treatment when they had eye problems.
Mr Charles Lewil, the Sissala East Municipal Director of Education, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tumu during the eye screening exercise that their
checks revealed that sight problems were a major challenge for children in Basic Schools in the Municipality.
He said the issue had been a source of worry to them and they were considering ways of remedying the challenge and thanked Bliss Eye Care and its partners for the intervention.
“We were brainstorming on how to get the problem solved because if the children cannot see well, it affected their ability to grasp the lessons, either they must strain the eyes or they must draw very close to the board and all that is a problem.
“To me, this is really very good news, and we are very happy and thankful to Bliss Eye Care for this wonderful initiative because I believe that without this many people would have missed out and would be grappling with a serious situation like this,” Mr Lewil explained.
Some parents, whose children received medication and eyeglasses during the screening, expressed gratitude to Bliss Eye Care for the intervention and said it would help improve the education of their children.
Madam Haluri Jakpa, a parent, said her eight-year-old child had difficulty seeing and anytime he was in class, he had to strain his eyes or get closer to the board before he could read from the board.
She said they had been to different health facilities with his eye problem, and they were referred to Wa but due to financial challenges, they could not go.
GNA