By Aliko Munde

Chitipa, May 3, Mana: On Tuesday, Operation Eyesight handed over medical equipment worth MK20 million to the Optometry Department at Chitipa District Hospital to enable the facility to begin producing spectacles.

Country Director for Operation eyesight in Zambia and Malawi, Kennedy Phiri said that his organization handed over medical equipment to set up an optical laboratory at the district health facility.

Phiri said that Chitipa District Hospital will be making spectacles and distributing to the four districts that the project is also implementing its activities, which includes; Karonga, Mzimba North, Mzimba and Mzuzu City.

“Most of the people that have got visual problems it is either they cannot see properly, they cannot read properly, or they have cataracts.

“By providing this medical equipment we are going to allow a lot of people especially young people including elderly people to be able to live normal lives as they will be able to wear glasses that they can get from here cheaply to support their everyday life,” he said.

Phiri further disclosed that a technician will assemble the equipment next week, followed by training for the health workers. He added that by the end of June this year, the facility is expected to start producing spectacles.

Chitipa District Council Director of Health and Social Services, Dr. Jollings Kasondo, thanked Operation Eyesight for handing over medical equipment at the health facility to set up the optical laboratory, which he said will improve eye services in Chitipa district and country as a whole.

Dr. Kasondo said that in the essential health care package, eye conditions have been emphasized including the preventable and correctable eye conditions.

“We have received a large consignment, which is worth multi-million US dollars which will help to improve eye services in terms of diagnosing and also correcting refractive errors that a lot of aged and young clients are having in our district,” he explained.

He then saluted the organization for having a component of user training to the health workers, which he said will make the medical equipment more sustainable and live longer.

Dr. Kasondo noted that one challenge that they often have is how to use and also detect the anomalies in the medical equipment.

“The training will assist our health workers to have technical knowledge of the gadget, which will make the lifespan of the gadget longer. So, there are a lot of things that we are going to do to safeguard these medical equipment,” he said.

Gift Munkhondya of Lwakwa area in Senior Chief Mwabulambya, thanked Operation Eyesight for handing over the medical equipment, which he said will go a long way in assisting people in the district to see properly.

Operation Eyesight is implementing a five-year Canadian funded project, titled; ‘Elimination of Avoidable Blindness on a Sustainable Basis’ in Chitipa District.