Four eye camps held in Kenya
In January and February of this year four eye camps were held in various parts of Kenya. These eye camps give free eye screening to people in need and provide them with the care that they need thereafter.
On the 31st January 2015 an eye camp was held in Kajiado County. This free eye camp was held in conjunction with a free medical camp. The venue was Al-Huda Muslim Primary School in Kajiado.
Over 600 local people received various health services provided at the medical camp free of charge. our team then examined 315 people for eye conditions, 62 people with reading problems were provided with reading glasses and 170 people were provided with eye drops for various eye conditions. 16 people were referred to hospital with various conditions needing other treatment.
From the 9-11th February an eye camp was held in Garissa County at the Garissa Referral Hospital, this camp was limited to surgeries for cataract blind patients.
This camp will assist in reducing the huge burden of cataract blindness in Garissa County. If successful we can undertake this repeatedly to have an impact on blindness in the County which is mainly rural, borders Somalia and has very little support for health care and education. Due to the insecure environment other organisations that used to support eye care have pulled out of the area. BCT's assistance was timely and was highly appreciated by the county and hospital officials and especially the beneficiaries.
A total of 106 sight-restoring surgeries were performed by the hospital team over the three days.
On the 15th February an eye camp was held in Kawangware slums, Nairobi at the Al-Gadhir Medical Clinic. A total of 158 men, women and children were seen by three optometrists. 50 reading glasses and 103 eye drops were dispensed. 15 cataract blind were referred for sight restorative surgery.
On the 21st February an eye camp was held in Mateka village, Bungoma County, Western Kenya. The venue was a public primary school. The team examined 415 men, women and children for eye conditions. 190 people with reading problems were provided with reading glasses. 253 people were provided with eye drops for various eye conditions mainly allergies and infections. Discussions are ongoing with the Bungoma hospital to provide cataract surgeries for those suffering blindness in the area that cannot afford access to surgery, we hope that next time we can fund the operations and restore people’s sight.
Our thanks go to all organisations and volunteers involved in these eye camps for their hard work in restoring people’s sight.