2007 Mission

 2007 - Akin-Akrosa, Ghana

In December 2007, Dr. Thomas Mauger and Chief Resident, Dr. Matt Ohr, traveled to Akin-Akrosa, a rural area one hour north of Accra, capitol of Ghana.

Twenty years ago, there were only fourteen ophthalmologists in the entire country of Ghana providing eye care to a large population.  Since then, the number of ophthalmologists has increased from fourteen to fifty, but that is still one ophthalmologist for every 500,000 people. Almost half of the country’s ophthalmologists practice in the capitol city thus leaving the ophthalmic nurses to do the bulk of the work in rural areas.

Dr. Mauger performed over 50 extracapsular cataract surgeries during his week-long visit using supplies donated from Alcon, Allergen and Pharma. He was assisted by Nurse Marian from Holland and Nurse Diane from Ghana. Marian volunteers six months of her time each year in Ghana and screens patients for surgery. Doctors Mauger and Ohr were excited to have the opportunity to help serve those in need in under-privledged parts of our world. 

“It kind of gets you back to why you went to medical school in the first place,” said Dr. Mauger, in describing why he schedules time for annual trips to underdeveloped countries to help people who would not otherwise receive care for eye diseases and conditions.