Ken is a clinical officer (like a physician’s assistant in
the US) who went back to school to become an optometrist. After 3 years of
coursework, he is in his final year – an internship or field work. He will be
able to test refraction, make the glasses, and refer patients with other eye
related problems to an ophthalmologist.
At the end of 2026, he will seek approval to be licensed as
an optometrist and begin serving patients in an Eye Department at Ilula Lutheran
Hospital. He will be the only optometrist in Ilula, with a catchment area of
about 100,000 people.
The hospital has identified three rooms for his practice – a
waiting room/showroom, a room for examination, and a room for fitting the ordered
lenses into the selected frames. I had a chance to see these rooms in action
during a visit to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) in Moshi,
Tanzania.
In addition to seeing patients at Ilula Hospital, Ken wants
to begin a mobile clinic, taking his refraction equipment into nearby towns and
villages that have no access to an optometrist. Ilula Lutheran Hospital will be
making a request to Global Health Ministries to provide start-up funding and
equipment for the new Eye Department.
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