By Philip Tengzu
Vieri, (UW/R), June 06, GNA – Bliss Eye Care, a private eye clinic in Wa, has extended the Blissful Sight for Kids (BS4Ks) intervention to school children in the Vieri Circuit in the Wa West District.
The intervention covered over 300 children receiving free eye screening and treatment.
Out of a total of 387 basic school children in communities within the circuit and beyond who went through the screening, 84 had normal eyes, 288 had Pathological issues related to medication, and 10 had Refractive Errors relating to eyeglasses while five children had Cataracts and Glaucoma.
The children who had issues and needed medication or eyeglasses were given at no cost to them or their parents while those who had issues that could not be managed at the screening centre were referred to the clinic for further assessment and treatment.
Bliss Eye Care organised the free eye screening service in partnership with the GhanaVision and the Wa West District Education Directorate as part of interventions to enhance the effective participation of the children in academic activities.
The BS4Ks project has, over the years, benefited thousands of school children in the Upper West Region and beyond to improve the education of children, particularly in rural communities through early diagnosis and treatment of eye conditions for school children.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after her two children went through the screening, Madam Theresa Kuchoo from the Baliofiili community near Wechiau said she had been to the hospital several times with her six-year-old daughter’s eye condition but was not getting remedy for it.
According to her, she spent a lot of money to buy medicine prescribed by the eye unit at the Wechiau Hospital for the child, but the condition persisted.
While thanking Bliss Eye Care and its partners for the intervention, Madam Kuchoo expressed hope that the care and medication she had received from the screening centre would help heal her daughter’s eye condition.
Dr. Zakarea Al-Hassan Balure, the Manager of Bliss Eye Care, explained that the high cost of medications for the treatment of some eye conditions had been a challenge to many parents in treating their children’s eye conditions.
He added that the plight of such parents, particularly in rural communities, was compounded by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) not covering some eye treatment medicines.
Mr Patrick Mornah, the Wa West District’s School Health Education Programme Coordinator, reiterated the commitment of the district education directorate to ensuring access to quality education for children in the district.
He said that informed their decision to regularly partner with Bliss Eye Care to organise free eye screening for the school, which had benefited many school children in the district.
GNA