During the summer of 2007, over two hundred Ashanti men contributed
their labour free of charge to build the ground floor of a two-storey
clinic/hostel in Gyetiase. Building costs were cut substantially, and
the work was finished in record time. The new building will be
used for several purposes. First, it will be staffed by a state
registered midwife or nurse, who will provide general healthcare and
teach the villagers about health through occasional workshops.
Second, it will provide a base for specialist eye care
healthworkers; Ashanti Development is currently sponsoring two village
women for five months training at Kumasi Komfo Anonkye Hospital. When
their course is complete, they will live in Gyetiase, provide general
eyecare and screen the villagers for cataracts and other operable
sicknesses. Kumasi Hospital will then send its mobile van to the clinic
to perform multiple cataract or other eye operations.
Operations
will be funded thanks to the generosity of UK opticians, SpecSavers.
London SpecSavers Branches have offered to finance one thousand
cataract operations, making an enormous difference to the recipients’
quality of life. SpecSavers will also provide a full range of eye
testing equipment for the clinic, together with recycled, graded,
secondhand spectacles from their London stores.
In time, the clinic will also be used to enhance the
training of outreach healthworkers, trained at Ashanti Development’s
expense and stationed in many of the villages around Gyetiase. These
healthworkers will be equipped with mobile phones and able to summon
hospital transport when necessary. Finally, the second floor,
which has still to be built, will be used to house teachers and other
volunteer workers from the UK who may visit Gyetiase from time to time. |