US SPECIALISTS TREAT 392 PEOPLE (PAGE 30)

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

About 392 people suffering from various eye defects in the Kumasi metropolis and its environs have benefited from the activities of a team of eye specialists from the University of Utah in the United States of America.
The patients, who had already been screened by the team, were among hundreds of patients who flocked the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) to take advantage of the eye surgery to enhance their vision.
The team, led by Dr Allan Crandall, is collaborating with the authorities of KATH to offer surgeries to correct the defects of the beneficiary patients, whose ages ranged between six months and 80 years.
Other members of the team included Dr Robert Hoffman, Dr Geoff Tabin, Dr Ashima Kumar, Dr Roger Furlong, Dr Greg Osmundson and Mrs Gladys Adjei Poku, a Ghanaian nurse resident in the USA. They will be at KATH for a period of two weeks to enable them to have sufficient time to attend to all the patients and also review their conditions after the surgical operations, before leaving for their base.
The KATH team, led by Dr Seth Lartey, is performing surgical operation for eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, squint and would also undertake cornea transplant for the patients.
The collaboration between the Utah eye specialists and the KATH medical team dated back to 1997, and so far over 3,000 patients suffering from various eye diseases have benefited from their gesture. Dr Allan Crandall told the Daily Graphic in an interview that patients who belonged to the National Health Insurance Scheme were treated free of charge, but non-members paid a token fee of GH¢50 to cover laboratory and other expenses.
He said one of their primary objectives was to build the capacity of the KATH medical team to enhance their skills in performing surgical operations to correct eye defects for patients in the country and those from the West African sub-region.
He pointed out that their principal objective was to establish an eye centre of excellence at KATH, where quality medical service to correct eye defects would be offered to patients to enhance their vision.
He pointed out that by building the capacity of the KATH team, the team would be in the position to impart their skills to other doctors to enhance the treatment of patients suffering from eye defects.