Free Eye Screening For Bawku Residents

AN OPHTHALMIC nurse with the Bawku Presbyterian Eye Clinic, Peter Abugri says a large number of people in the Upper East region are taking eye care seriously and now see the need to visit an eye clinic periodically for check-ups.

He advised people to desist from using unprescribed medicines to treat eye ailments and conditions.   

Mr. Abugri spoke to DAILY GUIDE during a free eye screening   organized by the Bawku Eye Clinic for residents in and around the Bolgatanga municipality.

According to him, many of the participants had developed conjunctivitis (inflammation of the conjunctiva-the outermost layer of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids) as a result of the dusty and sunny weather conditions in the region.

Also, many of the aged and a few young ones had cataracts which could be treated by the clinic.

Chairman of the Upper Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev Esmond Wasan Nagba told the paper the eye screening exercise was part of activities marking the Upper Presbytery's one year anniversary since being carved out of the church's Northern Presbytery.

Currently the Upper Presbytery has six districts spread in the Upper East and West regions.

According to him, the Bawku Eye Clinic which started as a small unit of the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital is currently one of the leading units that keep attracting people to the hospital from all over Northern Ghana, neighbouring Burkina-Faso and Togo for check-ups and treatment.

'The pressure on the Bawku Eye Clinic compelled the health wing of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana to start satellite centers where personnel from the clinic go to attend to people on outreach programmes. We also have a clinic in Bolgatanga to cater for cases from Bolgatanga and its surrounding districts as well as the Northern region. Even within the Bolgatanga municipality, we see the need to open another clinic to contain the pressure,' he explained.

  From Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga