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~ STATUS REPORT ON AfreakMED COMMUNITY HOSPITAL - January 2020 ~

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Partnership between AFREAKMED and Ghana Health Service (Tolon DHMT) has existed for some time now. In 2017 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between AFREAKMED foundation, Tolon District Assembly, Tolon Traditional Council and the Ghana HHealth Service (Tolon DHMT) was signed. As part of the MoU, Tolon DHMT was supposed to assign staff to AFREAKMED community hospital to start the provision of health care services to the people of Tolon and beyond. In line with this, a team of nurses were posted to the facility to begin the provision of eye care services (an essential health service that had been lacking in the district for a long time) in 2017. As a result, in November 2017, provision of eye care services to the people of Tolon started from the facility and had been progressing steadily ever since.

It worth noting that a lot of successes have been achieved in the area of eye health ever since the facility started operation. In the past two years that it had been in operation, a total of one thousand two hundred and twenty three (1223) patients have been seen and treated of various eye conditions at the OPD level of AFREAKMED. Several school and community outreach programmes have also been carried out in the past two years. Over five thousand (5,000) people with various eye care issues have been attended to in their communities, while a total of two thousand, two hundred and fifty three (2,253) school children have benefitted from free eye examination and treatment including free eye drops and free spectacles for those who deserved them. This free examination and treatment was made possible with total support from Swiss Red Cross. In 2018 over 300 students from the Tolon Senior High School were given free treatment with support from Swiss Red Cross when there was a conjunctivitis outbreak at the school.

It is worth noting that the eye unit at AFREAKMED did not only provide OPD and outreach services. We also conducted surgical interventions. In the past two years that the clinic has been in existence we have done a total of two hundred and sixteen (216) major eye operations in the district. It is important to mention that none of these operated patients paid even a single pesewa for the operation. All the patients were operated and given medications free of charge with support from Swiss Red Cross. In fact they were also given free feeding and supported with transportation. On the back of these achievements, it is evident that the eye unit at AFREAKMED was growing steadily from strength to strength, and attracted patients not only from Tolon but also from other surrounding districts including North Gonja, Central Gonja , Kumbungu and even Tamale, and a total of thirty four (34) cataract patients had been booked for the next round of surgery until a request was made from the Tolon Traditional Council for the eye unit to be moved out of the AFREAKMED community hospital premises. In this current state of affairs it is unfortunate to note that the already booked 34 cataract patients from the district may not be able to benefit from the surgery that they were being prepared for.

Having been allowed to be used to start and run the eye unit of the Tolon Health Centre for the past two years we wish to express our profound gratitude to all the major stakeholders in AFREAKMED community hospital including the Tolon District Assembly, Tolon Naa and the TolonTtraditional Council, and the Tolon District Health Management Team. Thank you.

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Charity Azantilow
(DDHS Tolon)