500 patients will receive free cataract surgery at the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua thanks to a collaboration between the US-based JA medical charity organisation and several Ghanaian medical specialists.
The beneficiaries included the elderly, children, and young people from Koforidua, Suhum, Nkawkaw, Aburi, Akropong, Bawjiase, and Somanya, among other cities and towns.
The Himalayan Cataract Project (Cure Blindness), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with American roots, offered free eye screenings to around 2,000 individuals before inviting the recipients to come in for surgery.
The Charity worked with the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service (GHS), and other partners to send a team of physicians and technicians to Koforidua to support the Eastern Regional Hospital's medical staff with the procedure.
The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, the St. Dominic Hospital in Akwatia, and the Tilgauya Institute of Opthalmology in Nepal were among the medical facilities where some of the physicians worked.
free medical care and drugs
Dr. James Amoo Addy, the NGO's country representative in Ghana, claims that all individuals who underwent screening, were found to have problems, had surgery, and received free medicine; some of these individuals also received reading glasses.
He explained that because the five days allotted for surgery were insufficient to treat all patients, the team had chosen to come back to the nation at a later time to carry out the exercise.
"We did this with our partners, all out of love for mankind. We want to help individuals in need and others who can't afford the price of such procedures have more purposeful lives, he added.
Research
200,000 (0.74%) of Ghana's total population, according to studies done there in 2015, were blind, and Dr. Addy said that cataract was to blame for this.
He believed that lack of money shouldn't prevent someone from being completely blind, which is why his organisation chose to pay for the eye sufferers' medical care.
He thanked the administration and the Ministry of Health for their assistance and urged the continuation of similar partnerships in the near future.
Appreciation
The recipients expressed gratitude to the organisers for the operation.
Grace Goku, a patient from Bawjiase who was first unaware of the practise but learned about it from a friend and had the procedure successfully, asked the government to allocate funds to supporting similar initiatives.
Another benefactor, the ecstatic Mama Sheitu Sampana of Koforidua, prayed for God to bless the organisers.
She claimed that she had paid nothing for the procedure or the drugs.
Another patient, Abdul Rauf Yusuf, told the Daily Graphic that he experienced no discomfort throughout the procedure.
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