The West African Gas Pipeline Company limited (WAPCo) has held its annual specialized medical care for its host communities in Kpone and Tema Manhean in the Greater Accra Region.

The annual healthcare programme which provides free eye screening was held in collaboration with eye specialists from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

The programme sought to fill in the gap for the high demand by members of the host communities with eye problems but have no access to proper specialist care.

More than 500 beneficiaries received treatment, with some provided with medicated glasses, eye-drops and other medicines.

Those with more severe conditions needing further attention were referred to the Tema General Hospital and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

The Eye Specialist in charge of the outreach programme, Dr Gladys Fordjour said some of the cases that came up included cataract, which leads to a decrease in vision.

"It often develops slowly and could affect one or both eyes", she said.

Other diagnoses, she said, were refractive errors, allergies and few cases of glaucoma. "I must say these were pretty serious cases that need further attention".

Timeliness

Dr Fordjour said the eye screening exercise instituted by WAPCo was timely, as some of the cases that came earlier were quite serious.

The exercise was timely and we have taken care of them and referred some to Tema General and Korle-Bu Teaching hospitals for further care".

"I must say that, we have strongly advised those we have been referred to make sure they visit the hospital since failure to do that could lead to blindness, while we also advise others on proper eye care", she said.

Dr. Fordjour said most of these health facilities in the communities do not have specialized eye services thus making WAPCo’s outreach programme very important.

Specialist service

She said what is important now is to encourage patients living in remote areas to regularly visit the facilities such as Tema General and Korle-Bu Teaching hospitals for checkups.