WORK ON KATH EYE CLINIC BEGINS (BACK PAGE, AUGUST 14, 2010)

WORK on the construction work on a new eye centre at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has begun.
The project, which is expected to be completed in 12 months, is estimated to cost $1 million. It is being funded jointly by KATH, through its internally generated resources, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
On completion, the centre will be equipped with an outpatient facility, three theatres, a 50-bed capacity ward and a training department.
Cutting the sod for work to begin, the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Rojo Mettle Nunoo, commended the board, management and staff of KATH for their initiative which had made it possible for them to generate the needed financial resources to support the funding of such an important project.
He also commended the HCP and the Latter-Day Saints for their sense of commitment to support the treatment of eye diseases in the country.
Mr Nunnoo said the project was key to the agenda of the government, explaining that it would complement the Health Ministry’s drive to expand health facilities designed to eliminate avoidable eye problems such as cataract.
Currently, he said, there were about 184,000 Ghanaians suffering from different eye problems, while the country did not have adequate facilities and specialists to treat those patients.
He, therefore, hailed the sponsors for their gesture, saying the project would not only bring relief to patients but also facilitate the training of eye specialists for them to treat people suffering from eye defects.
The Chief Executive of KATH, Professor Ohene Adjei, said the project, which will add to the infrastructure of the hospital, would reduce acute congestion at the teaching hospital’s eye clinic.
“Currently, the KATH Eye Clinic remains the main centre for providing specialist care in the northern half of the country, with a daily average OPD attendance of 300 patients,” he said.
Professor Adjei said notwithstanding its strategic importance in the health sector, “the Eye Clinic is one of the most congested areas in the hospital, while the performance of corrective surgeries to reverse avoidable blindness caused by cataract remains low”.
He expressed concern over inadequate land at the hospital to enhance the execution of future projects, saying, “The hospital is using its last vacant piece of land for this eye project.”
He said the hospital had no land to put up the Burns and Plastic Surgery block which had been earmarked to take off soon.
He, therefore, pleaded with the Ministry of Health to confer with the Ministry of Defence for the release of the adjoining military land to enable the hospital to expand its facilities.