Tema, Oct 10, GNA - The Tema Lions Club has unveiled a plaque to officially open a US$600,000 ultra modern eye care centre for the Tema General Hospital. The eye centre, which is 80 percent complete has two waiting areas, four consulting rooms, screening room, operating theatre, optometry, darkroom, admission wards and pharmacy among others. The existing eye clinic in the hospital was housed in an abandoned nursing facility which provides other services such as death and birth registry.

Due to limited space at the old facility, the clinic which attends to patients between 80 and 120 runs twice a week instead of daily. Mr Albert Brandel, International President of the Lions Clubs who unveiled the plaque said over 26 million people have received sight restoration through the activities of the club worldwide. Mr Brandel noted that providing eye care service was a challenge to the Lions clubs in being "knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness".

He further said the club has allocated 4.5 million dollars towards the improvement of eye care services in Africa. Mr Clement Torsutse, President of the Tema Lions Club in a welcome address said the eye care centre project was initiated by the club to raise funds to provide the hospital with the best facilities. Mr Torsutse added that companies and individuals in the Tema metropolis contributed towards the construction, stating however that an additional GH¢50,000 was needed to make the facility functional. He further said eye equipments such as visual acuity projector, slit lamp biomicroscope, operations microscope, cataract surgical instrument set and lens manipulation extraction hook among others, were needed for the effective running of the centre. He anticipated that the centre would cater for 1,500 patients in and around the metropolis weekly, adding that, the club often embarks on eye screening exercises in the villages near the Tema metropolis. Dr Solomon Otu-Tawia, Acting Medical Superintendent of the Hospital thanked the club for the initiative and called on other organizations and companies to emulate their gesture to provide the needed infrastructure for the hospital. Dr Otu-Tawia indicated that since its construction in 1954, the hospital has not seen any major dramatic facelift even though it is the referral point for all health facilities in and around the metropolis as well as one of the busiest in the country. Mr David Quaye-Annang, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive promised that the assembly would collaborate with the hospital to provide the needed facilities to enable the public to receive quality health care.