Ghana

A New Eye Center & Training Facility

In conjunction with the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah, HCP began working in Ghana in 2006 with a cataract surgery training workshop in Kumasi at the Komfo Anoyke Teaching Hospital (KATH). For over a decade prior, ophthalmologists from the Moran Eye Centre had been traveling to Ghana and working with the ophthalmology department in Kumasi.

In 2006, a surgical team from KATH including Dr. Seth Lartey and two ophthalmic nurses, Charity Mayfair Oppong and Esther Bortey, trained at Tilganga. Following this training, Dr. Lartey and his team began managing and conducting outreach eye clinics in Ghana, providing anywhere from 30 to 150 surgeries at each outreach eye clinic.  

Available statistics indicate that 200,000 Ghanaians are completely blind while an additional 600,000 are visually impaired. Seventy-five percent of this blindness is avoidable. (Source: Ghana Eye Foundation, December 2005)

HCP is spearheading the creation of an eye care center at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. This new facility, integrated as part of the hospital, will serve as a training site for ophthalmologists and eye care specialists from throughout the West African region.