The exercise which saw a total of 200 pupils undergoing the screening last Saturday formed part of the facility’s corporate social responsibility and is expected to cover all 11 districts of the Upper West Region.

Dr Zakarea Alhassan Balure, an Optometrist and the Manager of Bliss Eye Care facility in an interaction with the Ghana News Agency at the beginning of the exercise observed that little attention had been paid to eye care needs of the pupils.

He said a child with eye defect could lead to further damage of the victim’s eye, adding that a child with eye defect was often difficult to train, hence the free screening exercise.Dr  Balure said the screening started in the Jirapa district and major issues such as trachoma, allergy conditions, refractive errors, cataract and bulging eyes among others were identified and corrected with various medications and spectacles.

He was impressed with the turn out for the screening, saying it was an indication that people recognised the importance of a healthy eye to the effective functioning of the human body.The Bliss Eye Care Manager commended the teachers and the Municipal Education Directorate for their role in organising the students for the exercise.

Dr Balure disclosed that the screening for the Wa Municipal alone would not cost less than 10,000 Ghana cedis.Madam Afusata Hamidu, the Wa Municipal Director of Education noted that the screening and correction of eye defects among pupils would go a long way to help those who otherwise would not have been able to afford the cost of treatment.

She said eye defects often had effects on pupils’ performance in school and hoped that the exercise could be conducted periodically to ensure that pupils with eye defects were identified early and treated.Rabi Majeed, one of the pupils said she had difficulty in seeing writings on the board from a distance and hoped that through the screening her problem would be solved to boost both her studies and comfort outside the classroom.

Bliss Eye Care’s free eye screening exercise for basic school pupils in the Upper West Region is under the project “Blissful Sight for Kids” (BS4Ks) which is being sponsored by Vision 2020 in Switzerland.