Mobile Eye Clinic, Al-Ain

Mobile Eye Clinic, Al-Ain

When I was in Ghana, I became aware of how common it was with eye problems and at the same time how difficult it was to get treatment for eye ailments of various kinds. The eye specialists and even opticians were few, distances were long and it was very difficult for common man to visit an eye doctor. Thus I got the idea of a mobile clinic which could go from town to town and thus serve people all over the country.

Initially I had planned to take part in this project myself, and I made up a plan, which included:
1. To set up a small clinic for cataract operations combined with a shop for testing the eye sight and selling glasses at low cost, e.g. an Eye Centre / optic shop/workshop in Mankessim, Ghana, where I lived at the moment, with a team trained to cut the glasses and fit them into frames, and
2. A mobile unit /van equipped with optic instruments for measuring the eye sight + a team trained to do the work.

The main idea was that the mobile team goes around Ghana, from one Ahmadi school to the other, serving in first hand the teachers and school children, secondly all other Ahmadis in the neighborhood and thirdly any person who like to have their eye sight tested and who comes to the mobile unit.

All data was to be sent to the Eye Centre in Mankessim, and the new glasses are prepared in the workshop there and then sent back.
My idea was that all testing should be free of charge, but the people must buy the glasses and the frames, which will bring some income to the project. There should be economical space to donate free glasses as well to very poor people.

It was my hope that, by time, it may become self-sustaining, e.g. that incomes cover the expenses.
If I could start this project, it will also give good jobs to several Ahmadis in Ghana, in an area where there are no industries and hardly any job at all.

The Amir of Ghana of that time, late Abdul Wahab Adam, was so happy when hearing about my plan, and he said it will have a revolutionary impact on the health of the Ahmadis in Ghana. He also said that my work and efforts would prove to be more important than I could realize myself.

Thus I wrote to Hazur, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V, about my ideas regarding this eye project. Hazur was also very happy, saying it was now time for others to help out. He then handed over the project to Humanity First for completion, and thus Humanity First in Germany built this fantastic bus. It can even go from one country to another and last I heard about it, it was in Togo on the West African coast.
Dr. Qanita