Funsi, (UW/R), Feb. 25, GNA – A total of 1,087 school children in Funsi in the Wa East District have received free eye screening under the Blissful Sight for Kids project as part of efforts to enhance their education through good eyesight.
The initiative by Bliss Eye Care, a private eye clinic in Wa, in partnership with Ghana Vision, a Swizz-based charity organisation, was aimed to “prevent preventable and avoidable eye condition of children which could deprive them of their right to education.”
In all, 184 of the 1,087 children who went through the screening had normal eyes, 878 had pathological issues relating to medication, 15 had refractive error and required eyeglasses and ten had cataracts.
All the children who required medication or eyeglasses were given while those who needed further attention were referred to the clinic in Wa for further assessment and treatment.
Speaking at the screening at Funsi, Dr. Zakarea Al-Hassan Balure, the Manager of Bliss Eye Care, said the project was birthed out of his desire to impact the lives of vulnerable people, especially children in rural and deprived communities through the provision of free eye screening and care services.
He indicated that children in deprived areas were disadvantaged in accessing specialised services, including eye care due to their inability to access health facilities in urban centres for those services coupled with financial constraints.
Since its inception in 2016, the BS4Ks project has saved thousands of children from eye conditions that could adversely affect their development and future lives.
“The biggest problem of the deprived areas is that they don’t have access to most of the specialists’ services, so you find most of them running to do the traditional healers and most times this ends up worsening their plight”, Dr. Balure explained.
He advised the people to make the health facilities their first point of call when they had eye problems rather than resorting to herbal medicines.
Dr. Martin Roost, the President of Ghana Vision, said his organisation was mobilising resources to support the BS4Ks project due to the importance of good eyesight for children’s education.
“Education is just the key to everything, and our motivation is first to provide the sight to enhance the education of deprived children in Ghana”, he explained.
He expressed gratitude to Lawrence Ati-Zigi, a Ghanaian professional footballer, for his continuous support to Ghana Vision to also support disadvantaged children in Ghana through the BS4Ks project.
Dr. Roost said they hoped to expand their support to other parts of the country if they have support from other kind-hearted people and organisations.
Mr Samuel Dassah, the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator at the Wa East District Education Directorate, thanked Bliss Eye Care and Ghana Vision for the intervention as that would help enhance the children’s education.
