Reduce taxes on glaucoma drugs, equipment - Association entreats govt
The President of Glaucoma Patients Association of Ghana (GpAG), Harrison Kofi Abutiate, has entreated the government to reduce taxes on equipment and medicines used for the treatment of the disease.
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The taxes, he said, made treatment of the medical condition expensive for patients.
He made the appeal during a free eye screening exercise at the Ministry of Health (MoH) as part of activities to commemorate this year’s World Glaucoma Week celebration which begun on March 10, 2024 to create awareness of the disease.
The exercise was jointly organised by the Ophthalmological Society of Ghana and the MoH.
Early detection
Mr Abutiate said despite numerous awareness activities over the years, early detection of glaucoma had not improved as expected.
“Early glaucoma does not create symptoms, and therefore, by the time most people report, it is a bit too late, and they have lost vision in one or both eyes,” he said.
Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings experience
A former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, shared her personal experience with glaucoma.
She did not know she had the disease until she visited a medical facility for another eye-related condition.
“It is a condition that does not hurt, it does not give you headache, so you may not know you have it, but it silently closes your vision,” Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings said.
She, therefore, urged the public to regularly screen their eyes for early detection.
Glaucoma
The Chairman of the Glaucoma Working Group of the Ophthalmological Society of Ghana, Dr Charles Mensah Cofie, described glaucoma as an eye disease that could cause vision loss and blindness by damaging a nerve in the back of the eye, called the optic nerve.
He said the disease did not have symptoms and could start slowly such that an individual might not notice it except through eye examination. Treatment includes eye drops, medication and surgery.
For her part, the acting Head, Public Health and Health Promotion at the Ministry of Health, Dr Mavis Sakyi, said glaucoma was a silent thief of sight, adding “we need to promote the screening of glaucoma and create awareness for the public to get to know more about the disease and take it seriously to decrease the loss of eye sight in the country,”.
“Together, we can fight glaucoma related blindness in the country since it has no cure,” she added.
