Hon O.B. Amoah (2nd left) presenting the medicines to the medical team for the eye screening
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwapim South, O.B. Amoah, in collaboration with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and the Kom Clinic at Aburi, is organising a five-day eye screening exercise with the intention to carry out eye surgeries at the cost of GH¢30,000 for people in his constituency.
The Akwapim South MP is undertaking the five-day exercise which started on Monday, August 15 as part of his cardinal objectives to ensure good health for his people, especially the ageing population.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 people are expected to benefit from the eye screening exercise which will end on Friday, August 19.
The MP is providing medicines for the surgeries, lenses for patients and also footing the bills of specialists and staff from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and Kom Clinic who are undertaking the screening and would be carrying out the operations after the five-day screening.
Major communities such as Aburi, Ahwerase, Kitase, Brekuso, Gyankama and Jamaicaso will benefit from the programme.
Hon O.B. Amoah who is also the chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament told journalists that the eye screening is part of a routine medical screening programme he has been organising for his constituents as part of his intention to improve the health of the people in his constituency.
He said the constituency which was part of the Aburi-Nsawam Municipality has been upgraded to a district and, as a result, lacks first class medical facilities.
The MP stated that to fill the void, he had provided a lot of community-based health planning services (CHPS) centres to provide healthcare to the people.
According to him, the central government would have to come in to assess the health needs of the people and provide a hospital for them.
“I am doing my best for my people, but we will need the intervention of the central government,” he said.
The Akwapim South MP said the health screening and medical outreach programme would be an ongoing programme so far as he remains as the MP for the constituency.
The leader of the team, Dr Curtis Addae Siaw, an optometrist from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, praised the MP for such an initiative, saying that the programme would help a lot of the constituents to find out whether they have eye problems like glaucoma or cataract for them to be treated.
He said the cost for eye surgeries is quite expensive, and that has been deterring many people who have been diagnosed with eye problems from undergoing the operation to correct those defects.
Dr Addae Siaw also commended the staff of Kom Clinic as well as others from Koforidua for coming to support them in the screening exercise.
He advised everybody to go for regular eye checks to be able to detect any problem in time to avoid the situation where the problem would become complex.
From Thomas Fosu Jnr, Aburi