Thousands benefit from GCB eye screening

By Caesar Abagali, GNA

Tolon (N/R), April 27, GNA – Over 3,000 inhabitants of Tolon and Nanton in the Northern Region have benefited from a two-day GCB Bank’s eye screening exercise.

The GCB Bank Limited in partnership with the Third Eyecare and Vision Centre, a firm of eye specialists, organized the free eye screening for the inhabitants of the two towns and their surrounding communities to correct eye defects.

Mr Robert Akati Adamu, head of GCB Bank’s support services department, who announced this in Tolon, on Wednesday during the last day of the eye screening exercise, said GCB was spending about GH¢220,000.00 on the eye care project in the Northern Region.

He said the eye screening programme included eye examination, provision of drugs and spectacles on site and the education of residents on preventable blindness, which is being carried out by ten optometrists and 50 community health volunteers.

He said the project fell under GCB’s new Social Intervention Campaign: “Stirring Passion” where the bank reaches out to communities through volunteer staff who work for the improvement of healthcare delivery.

Mr Adamu said the Bank carried our similar exercises in 2016 where 3,000 people in Accra and Takoradi were beneficiaries and that the aim of the Bank is to reach out to more than 12,000 people in the next four years.

He said the “Stirring Passion” programme was the theme for the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility, and was targeted at the needy in the community.

Mr Adamu said GCB Bank was giving true meaning to its corporate social responsibility effort and philanthropy work hence the move to communities like Nanton and Tolon where the Bank has no branches.

As part of the eye care programme, the Bank on Tuesday, April 25, presented Auto-refractor equipment worth GH¢20,000.00 to the management of the Tamale Central Hospital to facilitate the diagnosis of eye defects.

Mr Adamu expressed hope that with the arrival of the Auto-refractor equipment, people would no longer travel long distances for eye care services.

Dr Kwame Oben-Nyarko, Managing Director of Third Eyecare and Vision Centre, described the exercise as a success and that majority of all those screened were given free drugs and lenses.

He said it is important for every one especially those 40 years and above living with hypertensive conditions to check their eyes every six months to correct any defects to avoid blindness.

GNA

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