Parents at Busa Circuit in the Wa Municipality have expressed gratitude to the Bliss Eye Care for taking the initiative under its Blissful Sight for Kids to screen their children’s eye.
The charity organization also provided medication to those with eyes problems as well as medication glasses for children with sight defect, all at no cost.
Madam Zeinab Mohammed, a mother at Kampaha who brought her children to be screened, confirmed in an interview with Info Radio that one of the children was detected with eyes problem and was given medication.
While expressing gratitude to Bliss Eye Care for the service, she explained that she had been staying with the child but did not he had eyes problems.
“I have been staying with the children. I didn’t know this my child has eyes problem but by God’s grace, he has been given medication for free”, she said.
Mr Ibrahim Salis, a teacher at Kampaha Imam Islamic Primary School, also noted that the initiative would save them from pain of having to reposition the children in the class to enable them see well on the chalkboard.
The Assembly Member for the Busa Electoral Area, Mr Mahama Mwinyele, was also grateful to Blis Eye Care for the screening and said they would do everything possible within their remit to support the organization with whatever they will need to serve the community.
The Wa Municipal School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator, Abudu Issahaku, said Bliss Eye Care, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service, had been organizing the screening exercise since 2015 to be able to read and write.
Mr Issahaku indicated that children with eye problems were given medication while those with reading defect were provided with reading glasses.
He, however, said caring for the health needs of children is a collective responsibility and urged the parents to take responsibility of supporting their children with eyes problems by providing them with the reading classes when the initial once provided for free get missing or broken.
“We all know that children easily spoil things. These are also glasses and they can easily break them. So what I am telling parents is that when the glasses spoil they should buy it for them”, he explained.
The eye specialist and founder of Bliss Eye Care, Dr Zakarea Balure Al-hasan said the Blissful Sight for Kids project started about five years ago to help provide sight for children in deprived communities.
He said there were a lot of children in rural communities with eyes problems but were not aware of those problems while others too cannot afford to treat or buy medicated glasses.
The initiative has, since its inception, benefited many children in the Upper West Region.