Cataract, glaucoma, and pterygium eye conditions have been identified as more prevalent in the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta Region.
Health experts indicated that bleaching is the cause of cataracts, while dusty and sunny environments and other irritants were the major causes of pterygium conditions in the area.
This was disclosed during a 3-day health mission organized by the Volta Health Network at the Ketu North Municipal Hospital in Weta.
Rev. Dr. Lordson Dagba disclosed that out of 169 eye cases, 64 surgeries were conducted for glaucoma, pterigium, and cataract patients among others.
He said the eye conditions were predominant in the Ketu North Municipality because it has a network of mostly unpaved roads, where residents rely on motorbikes for transport.
According to him, driving and riding on these dusty roads on motorcycles exposes commuters to a lot of irritants that cause damage to the eyes.
He added that another cause of the cataract cases was bleaching, where patients continuously exposed their eyes to chemical agents that cause damage, leading to partial and total blindness.
“We have seen a good number of cataracts in younger people here and it was a concern, they have complicated cataracts. For some of them, because they are bleaching, it caused them to have cataracts. So we have to operate them.”
“Pterygium also is an issue that is seen in environments that are dusty, more sunny, or have things that cause a lot of irritation to the eye. In fact, as we all age because we come into contact with things that irritate our eyes, there is a chance that you can develop Pterygium. We had a lot of such cases here and that should tell you there are a lot of irritants here. Even the road to the Weta Hospital is dusty”, he stressed.
He warned people who noticed problems with their eyes to visit a health facility for diagnosis and treatment and desist from engaging local or herbal practitioners for a cure.
“We want to caution that cataract is a curable disease and that we have a lot of eye specialists in the system doing good cataract surgeries. So, people should be assured that they will have good vision when they access services of an eye specialist”, he said.
Some of the patients who spoke to Joy News expressed gratitude to Volta Health Network for restoring their vision after years of struggle.
Similarly over 70 fibroid surgeries were conducted for beneficiaries within the 3-day outreach. There were also high cases of hernia and goiter, among other minor illnesses.
A Consultant Optetrician and Gynaecologist of the University of Health and Allied Sciences and Ho Teaching Hospital, Prof. Wisdom Azanu, said the team with the support was able to remove very huge hernia and goiters.
“You should have come earlier, we did a huge fibroid and we gave them hope to live again. We have done huge hernias, we have huge goiters”, he said.
This development has prompted the Volta Health Network to lead research to unravel the cause of these health conditions and find a possible solution to them.
The General Secretary of the Volta Health Network, Leonard Gobah, said his outfit would partner with the Ghana Health Service and the University of Health and Allied Sciences to conduct the research.
“For the general surgery area, what we are seeing mainly is goiter, and then hernias, and so that is something we are concerned about. We [Volta Health Network] want to research and find out exactly what is causing these issues”, he hinted.
He lauded the management of the Ketu North Municipal Hospital for their seemingly well-organized coordination of the health outreach, adding that “we have been really satisfied, there is Joy in our hearts because we have fulfilled our mission”, he said.
He appealed for financial and logistical support to enable the Network to undertake more outreaches to serve humanity with basic healthcare.