Kpongu pupils receive free eye screening

Bliss Eye Care, a private eye clinic based in Wa, has provided free eye screening and treatment services to over a thousand basic school pupils in Kpongu and surrounding communities in the Wa Municipality.

The exercise, part of the Blissful Sight for Kids (BS4Ks) Project and sponsored by Ghana Vision in Switzerland, is aimed at early identification of school kids with eye defects for treatment.

Ms Amina Braimah, an Ophthalmic Nurse, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the screening reveals a number of conditions especially glaucoma which could have rendered the victims blind.

“We came across about five of these pupils who have drastically lost their vision”, she said and urged the parents and teachers of these children to maintain the interaction with Bliss Eye Care to help the children overcome the threat of blindness.

She said medicines and eye glasses have been issued out to some of the pupils to take care of various conditions such as squint, cataract, refractive errors and glaucoma among others.

Ms Braimah said two pupils were identified to have lost their vision adding that Bliss Eye Care can only help them to maintain their current situation.

She said there is the need for parents to ensure early eye screening for their children, noting that a condition such as glaucoma could only be managed but not cured, hence the need for early detection.

Screening is very important and parents should endeavour to have their children screened at least once every year to protect them from blindness.

Mr Abudu Issahaku, the Wa Municipal School Health Education Programme (SHEP) thanked Bliss Eye Care for the free screening intervention, adding that it was making a lot of impact among school pupils.

He said since 2016, over 60 glasses have been provided to some pupils in the Municipality to correct various eye defects and appealed for more support for the eye clinic to enable it continue to help the children.

Mr Saaka Hamidu, the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) Chairman for Kpongu Primary School, said poor eye sight among pupils was one of the challenges teachers of the school have been complaining about.

He thanked Bliss Eye Care for the lifesaving intervention.