The managing director for Bliss Eye Care, a professional eye care optometrist in the Upper West Region Dr. Zakarea Al-Hassan Balure has revealed that his firm Bliss Eye Care under it’s Blissful sight for kids project screen 37,228 kids in all 11 MMDAs in the Upper West Region from 2016 to 2026.
According to Dr. Zakarea, though the year hasn’t ended yet, their target for 2026 blissful sight for kids was 6000, but they have already screened about 4600.
Stating the reason why he choose to offer this humanitarian service in the deprived communities, he revealed that, some of the districts in the upper west region do not have functional eye clinic, and that affect the people in the communities inability to check their eye care when there is an issue.
“As the name implies, Blissful Sight for kids, we just want to have kids having good eyesight” he noted.
Touching on his motivation, about the blissful sight for kids, Dr. Zakarea Al-Hassan Balure. narrated that when he returned from school as a fully qualified optometrist in 2006, and working with the Wa Municipal hospital, He observed that cases been referred to the hospital to manage, some of them could have been prevented if they had early care for themselves.
According the optometrist, he started nurturing the idea of extending same service to the community level so that some of the conditions can be picked up early.
He stated that, research actually holds that 80 percent of learning definitely is through eye.
“How then are we assured of the next generation crop of learners when our eyes are not assured, so these were the two things that really motivated me to start thinking of how I could bring it into existence”. He recalls.
Dr. Balure revealed that, when he open his clinic “Bliss Eye Care” between 2014 and 2015, as part of Bliss Eye Care, the Blissful sight for kids was made his social responsibility.
Dr. Zakarea Balure mentioned that, the blissful sight for kids is done in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service, with the school health education unit since majority of his targeted group are school children.
“We have gone through virtually all the districts in the upper west region”
He highlighted that, during the screening kids are supplied with medications and eye glasses as well. Adding that, even some instances when they meet children with serious eye cases that demand surgery they usually do it for free.
