ALIU CALLS FOR ATTENTION FOR THE BLIND

THE FORMER Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama has reiterated his call on government to turn special attention to eye care delivery especially in the Northern Region where blindness or glaucoma had incapacitated most breed winners.

According to him, governments over the eyes had not realized the dangers or effects of blindness on the households and national development, and had thus done very little to save the situation.

Addressing some Senior Journalists at his private residence in Tamale during a special lunch he organized for the press as part of the Eid-ul-adha celebration, Alhaji Aliu Mahama said his checks at the Tamale Teaching Hospital had revealed that the Eye Centre there receives very little budgetary allocations every year.

The Former Vice President who recently flown down to Tamale with some Eye Specialists from the Louisville Medical Center in the United States of America to the Tamale Teaching Hospital to undertake some free eye screening exercise and share experiences with the local eye specialists, regretted that his checks further revealed that most of the equipments being used at the Tamale Teaching Hospital Eye Center are not only of low standard, but are out of date.

Meanwhile, the Northern Region as a result of frequent floods, invasion of black flies and the lack of portable drinking water is reported to have had a high incidence of glaucoma or river blindness than any other region in Ghana.

Unfortunately, majority of the victims are farmers who are supposed to contribute to the food security of their households and the state.

Alhaji Aliu Mahama is believed to have presented the single largest modern medical equipment to the Tamale Teaching Hospital in the last decade. He called for more health personnel and logistics to the Tamale Teaching Hospital and other district hospitals to enhance quality healthcare delivery.

On the other hand, the Former Vice President expressed dismay about the continual violence, hatred, intolerance and mistrust among the people of Dagbon in the Northern Region and Bawku in the Upper East Region.

He cited instances where the chieftaincy dispute in Dagbon had caused so many misfortunes for some indigenes in search for jobs and even in marriages. Saying, “Parents of either the man or the lady would first of all want to know which of the gates the man or the woman is coming from before accepting the marriage”.

Alhaji Aliu Mahama therefore appealed to the media to always maintain their neutrality and fairness in their reportage especially on issues that concern Dagbon or Bawku.