Orbis International, a non-governmental organisation which focuses on the prevention of blindness and treatment of blinding eye diseases in developing countries, has donated eye care equipment to three hospitals and a polyclinic in Ashanti Region.
The beneficiary facilities are Mampong Government Hospital, Mankranso Government Hospital, Akropong Government Hospital and Asuofua Polyclinic.
The equipment worth $ 55,326 included retinoscopes, auto focimeters, auto refractors, adjustable chairs, slit lamps with applanation, tonometers, ophthalmoscopes, pen touch, minor sets, and lensmeters, trolleys, gallipots, magnifying loops, cataract sets, trays, head lamps, kidney dishes, among others.
The organization, which had been working in the region since 2017, had also been training eye care professionals in primary eye care to ensure they have the right skills to attend to patients.
Mr. Adolf Ollenu, Programme Director of Orbis International Ghana, at a brief ceremony to hand over the equipment to the Regional Health Directorate, said it was necessary to make available the corresponding equipment after providing training for eye care providers.
“In line with what we have done, we make this equipment a key part of what we do in ensuring access and not just do we provide these services, but we also have other offers to ensure that eye care services are accessible,” he noted.
He said beyond the training and provision of equipment, Orbis also had a cybersight telemedicine platform that served as a tool for eye health education where eye health workers could gain additional information and knowledge to expand their scope.
“We are very grateful that today we are able to present this equipment to the Regional Health Directorate to support eye care services in the three districts this year and it is our hope and expectation that this will go a long way to improve eye care services in the region,” Mr. Ollenu observed.
The quality of service and access in beneficiary facilities of previous donations has improved significantly, he pointed out.
“You can see over the past years that eye care services have improved in terms of service delivery, access and quality to definitely tell the impact from the results that we are seeing,” he said.
Dr. Emmanuel Tinkorang, the Regional Director of Health Services, applauded Orbis for their continuous support to eye care services in the region over the years.
He said the provision of training and equipment to selected facilities in the region had improved eye care services in those facilities.
GNA