Lions Club supports Korle-Bu Eye Centre

The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) Eye Centre is set to receive more funding from the Lions Clubs International (LCI) to enhance eye care treatment in the country.

First Vice President of Lions Clubs International, Lion Bob Corlew, who made this announcement during a tour of the centre, said the organisation will aid the centre in the procurement of a power stabilisation plant to help work efficiency at the centre.

The eye centre is battling with the issue of power stability, which, according to Dr Edith Dogbe, head of the Eye Department of KBTH, is affecting the operations of the centre.

She said in order to protect the sophisticated equipment from getting damaged as a result of the power fluctuations, patients were being transferred to the Child Health Department for surgeries.

Dr Dogbe said per the technological design of the facility, air from outside is supposed to be used to cool the facility, however, upon its completion, it was realised that its technology was unable to cool the centre.

She said this had resulted in the centre getting warm, making it uncomfortable for health officials and patients to use the place.

Dr Dogbe said the centre sees close to 120 to 200 patients a day on out-patient basis, with 96 people successfully undergoing custom-made ocular prosthesis, known as artificial eye at the centre.

She also mentioned that although the centre has specialists to deal with problems of the retina of the eye, the equipment are not available.

Briefing the media after the familiarisation tour, Lion Bob Corlew expressed his satisfaction at the work being done at the centre which was funded by Lions Clubs International Foundation and the Morfields Eye Centre and the local Lions Clubs in the country.

He said LCI would ensure that the challenges being faced by the centre are addressed so the centre could start running fully.

Lion Bob Corlew disclosed that the primary focus of LCI is in the area of vision and would, therefore, continue to work together with KBTH to ensure enhanced eye care services in Ghana and the sub-region.