'Sight and vision' must count in government policies - Optometrist

Dr Remy Ninkpe, National President of the Ghana Optometric Association has asked that “sight and vision" be made to count in government policies.

He said this was necessary because rising global population carried along, increases in diabetic retinopathy and myopia, which could result in “depressive outcomes”.

Dr. Ninkpe who was addressing the 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Association in Ho said a recent survey, for instance indicated that refractive errors, cataracts, and glaucoma obstructed the sights of some 200,000 Ghanaians, although 79 per cent of such complications were avoidable.

He said available eye glasses in the country were capable of correcting defects for only 44 per cent and said it was important for government functionaries to investigate the causes of failing eyesight and place special emphasis on eye care, as the world “enters a new era of blindness and visual impairment”.

Dr Ninkpe called for a resourced Health Service with increased activity in hard-to-reach areas towards providing quality and affordable eye care services to the less privileged.

He said though there were over 300 trained optometrists and 500 optometric nurses in the country, uneven distribution of personnel had led to sparse coverage of quality eye care.

Dr Ninkpe said the Volta region for example has eye centres in only 13 out of 25 districts and said, “A nation that allows its people to go blind is in itself a blind nation”.

Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister, encouraged Optometrists to continue to serve with love and form an Optometric Council to promote quality eye care services.