UPDATE THREE
Leveling and compacting of the land right after the Construction of the wall..
Leveling and compacting of the land right after the Construction of the wall..
Construction of the new NCEH building started 2 months ago. Now we are filling the land alongside building the wall and designing the building.
We have 16 people working on the construction for now.
Mildred Gyempeh is a 63 years old lady from Yeji. She was taken to Mr Kombat Jackson, the eye nurse in Yeji by her daughter with being blind for several months, not even being able to walk around alone any more. She was diagnosed with bilateral cataracts and was sent to NCEH in tamale for surgery. First the right eye was operated on. The patient saw quite well already even 2 hours after the procedure. She and her daughter passed the night in the garden of NCEH and returned to Yeji early next morning on bus and ferry. The second picture shows her 3 weeks later, just before the surgery on her left eye, already happy about her good vision in the right.
Mr Seidu Mohammed 60 disabled since birth. He also has been blind for several years from cataracts. He underwent cataract surgery on his right eye at Northerm Community Eye Hospital last week and now is able to see very well. His other eye Will be operated on tomorrow. NCEH also arranged for a new wheelchair for him through the Shekinah clinic as his own in broken.
#blind
#cataractsurgery #tamale #ghana🇬🇠#hcp #rtsah
Immaraba! Impuyje kapaj sokAm , naun deszogo!
Thank you very much all the invited guests for honoring us with their presence!
I am originally from Central Eu from a small country called Hungary. After finishing med school I immigrated to the US and became an eye doctor. I worked in private practice there for 25 years. It has always been my dream to work in a developing country, so I started to do 2-week long cat surgery outreaches to Central America and Africa in 2003.7 years ago I moved to Tamale permanently, as I realized that my skills will better serve the needy here than in the US. It was dr Wanye who convinced me to come to Tamale, so I am eternally grateful to him for this.
I have been working in the Tamale Teaching Hosp since. A few years ago with a few friends, namely dr Collins, Jangu Ibrahim and Mashood Osman we decided to start an independent eye hospital. We named it the NCEH.
Our mission is to consistently provide comprehensive and good quality eye care to all patients, regardless of their age, race, tribe, religion and financial status. Our services are easily accessible and affordable. We will also provide general eye health education, and after the initial setup period, we are also going to train eye care workers.
Our team is committed to treat all patients with professionalism, compassion and in a way to preserve their dignity.
The word “Community” in the name of our hospital means that the needs of our community, meaning whole North Ghana, guide all our decisions.   We do not want to take care of only the rich and affluent. We are realizing a special business model, called Aravind, already working well in many Asian and African countries. It is based on differential pricing, so we can take care of everyone in the community, rich and poor equally. This will take some time to develop and implement and there will we mistakes made in the beginning, so we are begging you, the public, to be patient with us. We promise that we will live up to your expectations.
We already applied to NHIS and hopefully within a few months we will be approved. This will make our services even more affordable.
What I see as one of the major problems preventing Ghana to develop more rapidly is the general lack of cooperation and collaboration. So many of us spend valuable time, energy and talent fighting each other instead of working together to advance our cause, whatever that might be. The reason is that we perceive each other as competitors, sometimes even as enemies. Just in my field, some eye doctors fight the optometrists and the eye nurses, and the optoms the eye nurses. We are not enemies of each other, our enemy is blindness, and we have to fight together to conquer it. So I hope that the NCEH will be an agent in promoting good quality eye care in Ghana and also cooperation and collaboration among eye care workers and the whole community.
In attendance were 122 participants and invited guests.
The chairman for the occasion was Dr. Abdullai Tinorga (Former WHO Public Health director)
Other invited guests were as follows;
1. The ceremony started at 10 20 am with an opening prayer by Dr. Nicholas Date, optometrist, Tamale Teaching Hospital.
From this point, everything said in English was translated to Dagbanle, as some of the audience did not speak English.
The area chiefs were welcomed by drummers and a singer who was reciting their names and deeds.
BRIEF ADDRESS BY CHIEF OF SAGNARIGU
The representative of the Sagnarigu chief, Nyaba Datalin-Lana gave a word of advice to community members, and in his speec, he thanked the director of NCEH and its partners for the great support and development brought to the community and assured NCEH of his full assistance.
EYE CARE AWARENESS TALK- OSMAN MUBARAK, OPHTHALMIC, NURSE BOLGA PRESBY EYE CLINIC
“Your eyes are an important part of your health. Most people rely on their eyes to see and make sense of the world around them. But some eye diseases can lead to vision loss, so it is important to identify and treat eye diseases as early as possible. You should get your eyes checked as often as your health care provider recommends it, or if you have any new vision problem. And just as it is important to keep your body health, you also need to keep your eyes healthy. “
MUSICAL INTERLUDE:
The members of the Tahama Cultural Dance company were dancing “Bamaya”, a traditional Dagbani rain dance, when the young men dress and dance like ladies.
Address of Alhaji Abdullai Chairman, 96 years old opinion leader and former regional minister:
He also talked about the importance of health and especially eye health. He gave a few advice about life in general to the mostly younger audience.
BRIEF HISTORY OF NCEH
Dr. Judith Simon, one of the founders of NCEH in her speech said she had come to stay in Ghana permanently. She has been working at the Tamale Teaching Hospital for nearly 7 years now. She has seen the need to establish an eye hospital to eliminate treatable blindness and provide eye care to all members in the community regardless of their ability to pay. The profit generated from the paying patients will be used to cross-subsidize and fund free care for the poor.
Here is a link to her speech:
MUSICAL INTERLUDE:
The members of the Tahama Cultural Dance company were dancing “Jara”, another traditional Dagbani dance.
At the end of the ceremony the Chairman stressed again the importance of eye health and regular eye checkups. He thanked all the participants for their presence and participation.
After this, the Nyaba Datalin-Lana cut the ribbon of the Northern Community Eye Hospital and the guests had an opportunity to visit the premises, including the consulting rooms and Theater. Then lunch and drinks were served and also Hungarian pancakes. There was also free vision and glaucoma screening for the invited guests. Some guests lingered around till 4 pm, just chatting and enjoying the afternoon.