Korle Bu opens new specialist eye centre
The Ophthalmology Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra has opened its modern specialist eye centre to the general public.
The eye centre suspended its operations from September 28 to October 6, 2015 to pave the way for the relocation of equipment and other essential facilities from the old building to the new facility.
The new facility is expected to attend to all eye diseases and offer training to Ghanaian medical practitioners as well as medical practitioners from the West African sub-region.
The centre, facilitated by Moorfields Eye Hospital in the United Kingdom and the West African College of Surgeons, was funded by Lion Club International, the Government of Ghana, charity organisations and other bodies within the country and abroad.
Work on the GH¢19.25million facility, which started in 2011 was completed this year.
The centre has two theatres, three wards, a 12-bed bay, offices, consultants’ rooms and a vision centre which provides a wide range of optometry services and dispenses spectacles.
The facility is still being furnished and work is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Improved services
The Head of the Ophthalmology Department at the KBTH, Dr Edith Dogbe, told the Daily Graphic that the centre was now opened to the public for all eye specialist services, adding that “the centre will be able to perform a variety of surgeries, which hitherto could not be performed in Ghana.”
Retinal detachment, cataract transplant and manufacturing of artificial eyes are some of the various operations that the centre will be able to perform after it has been fully furnished.
A team of 18 medical personnel from Moorfields Eye Hospital, led by Dr Ian Murdoch, a Consultant Ophthalmologist has arrived in the country to train trainers and other eye specialists.
Ensuring quality eye care
The experts, Dr Dogbe said, were expected to be in the country for the next five years to give the necessary training to ensure that the needed skills were given to the managers and trainers.
For his part, Dr Murdoch said the idea behind the centre was to build a centre of excellence for eye care in the West African region so that people would not leave their countries to other continents for eye care service.
He said the centre was also expected to serve as a regional surgical training centre for specialists by providing sub-specialty training in ophthalmology that will ensure quality eye care services in West Africa.
In view of that, he said an additional GH¢2 million had already been spent on the training of medical practitioners and other professionals in the country.