Joe Kingsley Eyiah, Awutu Breku, Ghana

A brand new facility was commissioned by the Hon. Ama Benyiwa-Doe, the Central Regional Minister at Awutu Breku on April 25, 2012 to open an Eye Clinic for the West African sub-region. It is dubbed “OPERATION EYESIGHT UNIVERSAL, For All the World to See”. The Clinic known as WATBORG EYE SERVICES run by Dr. Wiafe Boateng on 24hrs service was constructed with the help of Taylor Philanthropy Limited (a Canadian Family) and the people of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Research shows that more than 200,000 of the 23 million inhabitants of the sub-Saharan countries are blind, most from avoidable causes. A significant percentage of people in the sub-region struggle daily to meet their basic needs of food, shelter and clothing.

Operation Eyesight has chosen to work in Ghana because the need is great and because of the leadership of a remarkable Ghanaian by the name of Dr. Boateng Wiafe. Dr. Wiafe is one of Africa's leading ophthalmologists. He has advised Operation Eyesight for several years and in 2009 was appointed the organization's Director for Africa. With Operation Eyesight support, Dr. Wiafe founded Watborg Eye Services, a private hospital specializing in eye services in Ghana's Central Region. Using Watborg as a base and referral centre, Operation Eyesight is working to strengthen the primary eye care system in the Central and Western regions. This includes working with long-time partner Standard Chartered Bank through its Seeing is Believing program which funds most of the rehabilitation and development of three district hospital satellite eye clinics in the Western Region.

In an exclusive interview with the writer at Awutu Breku in the Central Region of Ghana, Dr Wiafe Boateng disclosed that, “With donor support, Operation Eyesight is working to implement a high quality and sustainable eye care program that will improve the output and quality of eye care services for the four million people residing in the Western and Central regions of Ghana.”

With such huge facility constructed with the help of people of Canada through CIDA and granting the hard work of Dr. Wiafe Boateng and his team, the future of eye health and surgical services looks promising in Ghana in Africa as a whole.