The Swiss Red Cross (SRC) has constructed an eye clinic at a total cost of GH¢35,000, for the Nandom hospital in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region.

The facility is being manned by two ophthalmic nurses, and would serve patients within the hospital’s catchments area, who hitherto had to travel long distances to Wa for eye care.

Mr Seth Addae Kyereme, Country Representative of the SRC, who inaugurated the building, said it was the eighth eye clinic in the region and was happy that twenty years after the SRC began its operations at the Nandom hospital; it has now constructed an eye clinic for the hospital.

Mr Kyereme said the SRC was committed to building strong structures for effective eye care delivery.

“Last year the SRC funded the construction of three new buildings, including this one at Nandom and also provided sixteen motor bikes, which he said would ensure that all ophthalmic nurses and the Red Cross District Organizers are mobile to undertake community based eye work”.

Mr. Kyereme said the service provision outputs of the SRC shot up tremendously as a result of the well-coordinated relations between the people and the SRC, this he noted, led to the performing of 700 eye surgeries in the year 2010 while a similar feat was chalked in 2011.

He expressed the hope that the facility would be put to good use for the benefit of the poor and vulnerable and urged the Ghana Health Service to take very good care of the clinic.

Dr Alexis Nang-Beifubah, the Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, advised health workers to remain committed and devoted to the profession they had chosen.

He expressed grave concern about the non-availability of doctors in the region and said “the Nandom hospital needed at least three doctors but presently has only one doctor”.

He called for the training of more midwifes for the region as well as an improvement in hospital infrastructure.

Dr. Nang-Beifubah was also not happy about the seeming power struggle within all facets of the health sector, saying it had also become a challenge to management because a lot of time was wasted on that.

Most Rev. Dr. Paul Bemile, the Catholic Bishop of Wa, who graced the occasion, urged the public to respect the visually impaired.

“People with blindness must be treated equally because we all have the same rights” he added.**