St. Thomas Eye Hospital Is Outstanding Eye Hospital Of The Year

St. Thomas Eye Hospital has been adjudged Outstanding Eye Hospital of the year 2019 at the just ended 2019 Distinct Heroes Awards on February 27.

The Hospital was incorporated in 2009 and officially opened in January 2010 as the North Western Eye Centre until the name was changed to the current one in 2014.

The hospital scores a number of firsts in the eye care service delivery in Ghana. In 2011, the hospital became the first Eye Care facility in Ghana to provide modern phacoemulsification cataract surgeries, commonly called ‘laser cataract surgeries.’

While the procedure had been the standard of care in the developed world and indeed in many rich developing countries for more than a decade earlier, this was the first time it was being offered in Ghana as a regular cataract surgical procedure. In 2012, the hospital, under its former name, was selected as one of United Nations examining facilities in Ghana, providing eye care services to staff of the United Nations and its agencies in Ghana.

In 2013, St. Thomas became one of two eye clinics equipped in Ghana to provide advanced vitreoretinal surgical services, setting the pace for a major leap in advanced eye surgical procedures in the country. Prior to this, patients requiring these services had to spend huge amount of money to fly to Europe or South Africa for such advanced procedures. In recent times, two teaching hospitals have been equipped and are providing similar services.

The hospital is equipped with cutting edge ophthalmic diagnostic and management equipment and provides general and sub-specialty ophthalmological services. These include medical and surgical services with emphasis on Glaucoma and Retinal Diseases. In addition to conventional medical treatment, St. Thomas offers a wide range of laser and other surgical treatment options for Glaucoma. Its vitreous and retinal surgical portfolio includes surgical management of diabetic eye disease (diabetic retinopathy), retinal detachment surgery, macular hole surgery, sickle cell disease of the eye (sickle cell retinopathy), and many more. The hospital offers optical services and provides clinical training to students undertaking Doctor of Optometry programs at the University of Cape Coast and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

As part of social responsibilities, the hospital provides free community screening and free cataract surgeries to people living in disadvantaged communities in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Central regions. Each year, the hospital provides more than 600 free sight-restoration surgeries to people living in these communities.

The hospital’s main surgical centre is located at Mataheko with an uptown branch on the Osu Oxford street, opposite the McCofie building.