Tamale West Hospital opens eye clinic
An eye clinic has been inaugurated at the Tamale West Hospital in the Tamale Metropolis.
The facility, which cost $32,000, is equipped with slit lamp, sterilizers, and ophthalmoscope and head loupe.
The facility also has motorbikes to facilitate outreach programmes. The Ghana Red Cross Society, with support from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Swiss Red Cross in Ghana, provide the facility.
The clinic would help cater for the growing number of patients seeking eye care services. In 2009, there were 39 patients but it increased to 3,243 by October 2012.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, the President of the Ghana Red Cross Society, Professor Kwabena Bosompem, said tripartite partnership made up of the GHS, the Ghana Red Cross Society and the Swiss Red Cross in Ghana has started providing sustainable eye care services in the three northern and Brong Ahafo regions.
“The mechanism we have put in place is comprehensive and it includes the provision of facilities like buildings for eye care services. It also includes the training of personnel and it provides a system where the poor and vulnerable people can be assisted to access eye care services without the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS),” Prof Bosompem further explained.
The Medical Superintendent of the Tamale West Hospital, Dr. Bashiru A. Majeed, said the completion of a wall, improvement in water and sanitation, landscaping of the hospital compound to reduce dust, proper layout of the hospital for future development and expansion of the maternity/labour ward were the major constraints to effective health care delivery at the hospital.
Touching on the eye clinic, he stressed the need to train more ophthalmic nurses to man the unit.
He further noted that there is the need to expand the unit to contain other facilities like a pharmacy, a records office, and an eye theatre.
The Tamale West Hospital was opened on April, 1998 as a polyclinic. It was upgraded to the status of a district hospital in the same year. It is currently a referral hospital for the Tamale Metro sub-district health centers. It provides 24-hour services and has seven functional wards, namely Male, Maternity, Labour, Emergency, Children, Female and Surgical wards.
Source: Daily Graphic