Land has been acquired for expansion of the Akwatia St. Dominic Hospital to become a Teaching Hospital, Mr Baba Jamal , the Member of Parliament for Akwatia, said at 10th anniversary of the Hospital’s eye clinic now named Rubsam Eye Clinic.
The clinic was founded by the Rubsam family and equipped by the Rotary Club of Germany.
Medical students, upon graduation from the University Of Ghana College Of Health Sciences, have been doing their housemanship at the clinic.
The Hospital was founded by the Dominican Sisters of Steyer, Germany, who ran the facility from 1960 to 2010 when they left for home.
The Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, the Most Reverend Joseph Afrifa-Agyekum, said as the anniversary was being celebrated with the theme “Sight, a gift to preserve’’ he would exhort everyone to take good care of his or her eye.
He called for a periodic check-up, maintenance of a healthy sight and precautions taken to avoid damage to the eye at work places, homes and elsewhere.
The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, in a speech read on her behalf commended the St Dominic Hospital for being pacesetters in health-care delivery, especially in eye care.
She said the government would ensure that the Hospital and the Eye Clinic was given assistance in collaboration with other partners of the Hospital.
The Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, Dr Mrs Mercy Dawson who is also the Head of the Eye Clinic, who was highly commended by speaker after speaker for her untiring effort and dedication of her staff, said she and her staff would continue to help those with eye problems with zeal and vigour.
She said the establishment of the eye clinic became a priority when it was observed that about 25 per cent of Out Patient Department (OPD) cases were eye related.
She thanked the Rebsam family and several German volunteer doctors and others whose assistance led to the establishment of the clinic and the help they continue to give the clinic.
Dr Dawson said full services were available at the hospital and intensive outreach programme carried out in surrounding villages and schools to enhance accessibility of eye care services to the people.