A Consultant and Ophthalmic Surgeon, Cornea Specialist at the Korle-Bu Teaching, Dr. Gladys Fordjuor, has disclosed that there are 24,000 people in Ghana who are blind due to lack of legislation on cornea transplants.
According to the cornea specialist, the legislation on cornea transplants in Ghana will help to get more eyes to restitute the sight of the plethora of people suffering from blindness.
She indicated that there are just four surgeons in Ghana who can perform cornea transplantation, with two of them in Kumasi and the other two in the Greater Accra Region.
Speaking in an interview on The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV, Dr. Gladys Fordjuor emphasized the need for legislation for cornea transplants in Ghana to facilitate the restoration of the sight of blind people.
“There are 24,000 people who are blind from cornea - from cornea diseases across the country. Across the country, there were those who don’t even know that [cornea transplant legislation] was what they need,” she said.
Dr. Gladys Fordjuor also indicated that there are plans in place to train more experts in cornea transplants to help ease the pressure on the few surgeons in the country.
“Expatriates who come and help with the transplantation. So, currently we have four cornea surgeons in the whole of Ghana. Two in Kumasi and the other two in Accra. So currently Kumasi has sent one person to India [for training] through the NGO and we also have somebody who is ready to start training.
“Ghana College has given the go-ahead for us to train and it's in collaboration with external partners. So, we are going to get really good quality surgeons coming on board. The nurses are also trained because we need specialist nurses,” Dr. Gladys Fordjuor added.
Dr Gladys Fordjuor is an ophthalmic surgeon