Rotary to send doctors to Ghana for free Cataract surgery

Chennai, Mar 18 (UNI) The Rotary Club here, in association with Ghana Health Ministry, will send a team of doctors to the African country, to perform free cataract surgeries.

The total cost of the project was about Rs 15 lakh, and five-member eye-surgeon team, headed by Arulmozhi Varman and para medical staff will perform 900 surgeries in 14 days,'' Rotary Club President Ravi Katari said told mediapersons here yesterday.

Mr Ravi said out of the total cost, Rotary Club has funded Rs five lakh. The surgeons, who are expected to leave the city today, will carry their own instruments and accessories, he added.

In the rural and urban slums of Ghana, blindness afflicted an estimated 2.2 per cent of the population, he said, adding working in tandem with WHO, the country's Health Ministry had sought the assistance of non-governmental organisations from countries advanced in health care.

He said there would also be an In-house training programme for surgeons from Ghana at India in June this year.

''The six-week training programme will lead to the introduction of new Cataract operation techniques to the Ghana surgeons and para medical staff'', he added.

UNI