The Ashanti Regional Health Directorate has taken delivery of equipment to improve primary Eye Care at five health facilities in some districts of the region.
The support by Orbis International, Ghana forms part of efforts to integrate Primary Eye Care into Ghana’s Health System and also fight against preventable and treatable blindness.
The organization is currently running a project in Primary Eye Care in five districts in the Ashanti Region and has procured equipment to support health facilities in these districts.
The beneficiary health facilities include; the Kumasi South Hospital, the Abuakwa Polyclinic, the Nkawie, Mankranso, and Obuasi Government Hospitals.
The equipment includes; two operating microscopes, an OCT machine, slit lamps and an ophthalmoscope among others cost $73,000.
At a short ceremony to hand over the equipment, the Program Manager for Orbis International, Ghana, Adolf Ollennu said the provision of the equipment was very important after health workers at the facilities were given training and Eye Care remains a priority area for the government.
He added that “following our visits to these facilities, we realized that when you are thinking about providing quality services, there is the need to provide the right tools once you provide training to enhance the work of the health workers. So part of our work is proving training to health workers, and we also provide behavioural change communication activities so that while there is the faring we can also let the community members know that services are currently available.”
He further said the organization found that a lot of the facilities were highly under-resourced, hence the intervention to provide the equipment to help patients visiting such facilities.
Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service(GHS), Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang the support came at the right time because most of the equipment was not available at the beneficiary health facilities.
He believed that the intervention will improve Eye Care at the facilities and also enhance diagnostics of eye conditions that are usually reported at the facilities.