Optometrists urged to let their services be felt in the communities

Accra, May 25, GNA - Dr. O. Debra, Head of the Eye Care Unit of the Ghana Health Service, on Monday urged optometrists in the country not only to look at the monetary aspect of their profession but ensure that their services are felt in the communities so that the country could meet the Vision 2020 set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The vision is to reduce eye and its related problems from the current 75 million to 25 million projections of blind persons globally. Dr. Debra made the call at the opening of a five-day training workshop for practicing optometrists in Accra, which is being attended by about 45 participants from Greater Accra and other regions of the country.

It is being facilitated by the International Centre for Eye Care Education, a Non-Governmental Organization based in Australia. Dr Debra said Ghana has about 70 optometrists and out of the number, 50 percent each are in Accra and Kumasi and the rest are dispersed in the other regions, adding that, Upper East was the only region which currently did not have an optometrist.

He said there were a lot of students and teachers in the communities in the country who needed the help of optometrists to read and learn and therefore there was the need for them to extend their services to the people.

Dr Debra urged the optometrists to come out with practical modalities after the workshop that would help bring eye care services to the doorsteps of the people. Dr Anne Ebri, International Centre for Eye Care Education, West African Representative based Nigeria said the workshop is aimed at training optometrists in Ghana to enable them to deliver community service and also to implement vision 2020 of the WHO dubbed: Vision 2020 The Right To Sight".

She said; "We also want to put together prevention of blindness by providing equitable and high standard of service and the expectation is that participants will plan refractive/intervention of uncorrective errors."

She said; "when we enhance vision we will be reducing poverty." Dr Ebri said the workshop was the first to be held in Ghana and promised that from time to time it would be organized to take stock of what have been achieved.