Screening of children’s eyes must be done periodically – Principal Optometrist

Tema, May 12, GNA – Children’s eye screening must be a periodic health activity to save them from future complications, Dr Alfred Gardemor, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Optometric Association (GOA), said on Thursday.

Without frequent eye care, potential eye disorders may not be detected and treated on time, which may affect children’s performance in school and their general well-being.

Dr Gardemor, also the Head of the Optometric Centre, Nsawam Government Hospital, said this at the Ghana News Agency and the GOA public sensitisation programme, dubbed: “GNA-GOA: My Eye! My Vision!

The fortnight initiative is a collaborative campaign to promote access to specialised eye care and draw attention to vision health.

It also challenges the public and policymakers to focus on vision as a health issue, which forms a critical component of human well-being but is often neglected.

Speaking on the topic; “Children’s Vision and Eye Health”, Dr Gardemor noted that the first schedule of eye screening for children should be at six months, and subsequently at three years, and then six years before the child enters school.

He referred to Ben Carson, an American politician and neurosurgeon, who had eye problems when he was little and because it was detected early, he was treated and he became the one who performed a first-time successful separation of conjoined twins at the back of the head.

Meanwhile, Dr Kwame Oben-Nyarko, the Chief Executive Officer of Third Eye Care and Vision Centre urged the public to refrain from acquiring spectacles from the wayside table-top dealers.

He said spectacles (glasses) were visual aids to enhance the quality of vision and protect the eyes from exposure to direct contact with several environmental factors, which could be detrimental to the eye.

“Therefore buying it from the wayside vendor could end up destroying your eyes”.

Dr Oben-Nyarko urged the public to acquire spectacles from either an eye clinic or an optical shop, stressing that the eye clinic usually had departments that tested for the spectacle prescriptions after several examinations by tests by the optometrist.

“Even though these processes may sound cumbersome, it is good to know the needs of a person before prescribing a spectacle,” he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency