Eye problems endemic at Sampa

Many residents at Sampa, a border town in the Jaman North District of Brong-Ahafo, suffer from eye problems.

According to a survey conducted by Changing Lives Together International in the area, a United States-based Non-Governmental Organisation, many of the local people have to wear medicated glasses before they can read.

Mr Lawrence Kumi Jnr, the National Director of the NGO, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Sampa, after the organisation had distributed reading glasses to some of the people in the area.

About 500 medicated glasses with power lenses between +1.25 and +3.25, were distributed to the beneficiaries, mainly women and men, with few teenagers who had earlier gone through an eye-screening exercise.

Mr Kumi recommended that vigorous eye tests and research ought to be conducted to detect the causes of the problem.

In another development, the Sampa branch of Star Oil Company, has presented office furniture worth GH¢ 15,000 to the Jaman North District Police Command at Sampa, to facilitate and enhance the work of the security personnel.

It also donated a-50kg-generator to ensure constant electricity supply at the Command and other police posts in the area.

Mr Zakaria Inusah, the Sampa-Suma-Ahenkro branch Manager of Star Oil, said as a border area, the company was poised to ensure that the police discharged their constitutional duties without obstruction.

He explained that the presentation followed an appeal made to the company by the Police, and stressed that modern policing and crime fighting were a shared and collective responsibility.

Odeneho Dr Kwabena Afram Brempong the Third, the Omanahene of the Suma-Ahenkro Traditional Area, who received the furniture on behalf of the Police, appealed to other corporate organizations in the area to emulate.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) William Gyamfi, the District Police Commander, said personnel accommodation remained a challenge, and appealed for support from the general public.

He said though crime wave had seen a significant reduction in the area, the Police still needed information about people with questionable characters, and appealed to the public to assist in crime control.