HEALTH

Three communities benefit from free eye screening in Builsa South
More than 130 persons from three communities in the Builsa South District have undergone free eye screening for various diseases.

Date Created : 2/5/2021 12:00:00 AM : Story Author : Pro/Irene Kwakye/Ghanadistricts.com

Mr Desmond Yaani, an Ophthalmic Nurse at the Fumbisi Health Centre, who organised the screening exercise, said that the initiative was to help eliminate the main causes of preventable and treatable blindness, especially in the rural areas.

He said the screening exercise was to provide quality eye care services to residents in the selected communities and to detect common eye conditions for early intervention.

He said most of the community members did not know much about eye care and so residents reports to the Eye Unit with foreign bodies in their eyes, stick pricks, trauma, cataracts, pterygia, pinguecula, corneal ulcers, neonatal Ophthalmia, bacterial conjunctivitis, presbyopia, glaucoma among others.

Mr. Yaani, who is also the District Chairman of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), schooled members of the public after the screening exercise on some common conditions of the eye.

He appealed to health centres and Non-Governmental Organisations to collaborate and support the District Health Directorate to organise such screening programmes in the District.

He also called on members of the public to pay critical attention to their eyes and encouraged them to seek early treatment and not wait until their eyes are in the worst state before they visit the Eye Unit.

Out of the number of residents screened, 26 were from Kasiesa, 67 from Naadema, and 38 from Buteris

He said the area was an Onchocerciasis zone and called for support to extend such services to the other communities across the District.