My Trip to Ghana - Day 4 (part 2)

We went on to visit an outreach clinic being run by the ‘John Wilson Optical Centre’, which in turn is run by the EP (Episcopalian Presbyterian) Church. The optometrist and ophthalmic nurse were both very keen, but there is clearly a major problem with this project. It was originally conceived some years ago to raise funds for the rehabilitation project that EP church also ran. The assumption was that it could sell glasses for a profit which could fund the rehabilitation work. The problem is that the area in which it operates is very poor, and the people cannot pay enough for the glasses for the centre to break even - let alone make a profit.

We went on to visit the eyecare centre at the hospital, where we sponsor an eye clinic. The hospital was also seeking a lot more support from us (as was everyone), although I had to smile at the request from the ophthalmic nurses that they should be sent on courses in the UK. I asked whether there were no equivalent courses in Ghana or neighbouring countries. ‘But we would like to visit the UK’ they said. Am I just being suspicious in thinking these are young people who are hoping to find work in the NHS? Ghana is littered with posters from banks advertising how to send money from abroad, and the pictures on them are mainly of nurses. Needless to say we didn’t agree to this request. I gather that the problem of the brain drain hasn’t affected ophthalmology particularly badly in Ghana, not least because the ophthalmic nursing qualification that we sponsor isn’t recognised in the UK.

Whilst at the hospital we called briefly on Dr Awade, the Director of the Onchocerciasis Research Centre which happens to be based there. Dr Awade is doing research on new drugs for oncho (river blindness), which have a much longer half life in the body than mectizan and will hence be more effective – possibly meaning that it will no longer be necessary to provide drugs every year for at least twenty years.

From here we travelled back to Accra for a welcome early night.