The Ghana Health Service on Thursday apparently snubbed some visually impaired and residents of the Eastern Region who had come for a well advertised free eye screening and a durbar to mark this year’s World Sight Day, held in the Eastern Regional capital Koforidua. The 2011 World Sight Day which was Themed: "Reducing Blindness, Importance of Eye Care to National Development". But participants, who had come from various communities and districts across the eastern region, were highly disappointed over the manner in which the Ghana Health Services and their eye specialists treated them during the screening exercise. Over 250 people who had joined a long queue to check their eyes or seek eye care were left unattended after wasting barely four hours in a long queue, whether any tangible explanation. The eye screening started at around 10:00 am, but was suspended after 30 minutes in order to give prominence to the durbar. It however resumed after the programme had ended. Shockingly, the eye specialists who were conducting the screening exercise packed their equipment, luggage and left the old, young and visually impaired who were in the queue to check their eyes. This development generated some murmuring among the poor people. Though annoyed, they had no option but to leave the place disappointed. When journalists probed them for their action, officials only asked persons who want to seek eye care to go to the Central Hospital in Koforidua. Meanwhile, available statistics indicates that a total of 83,088 eye diseases were recorded in the Eastern region alone between January to September 2009, out of this 5,587 had Cataract. In 2010, same period, 83,985 cases were recorded with 7,541 being cataract. Eye specialists say ideally, 80% of eye diseases would not have occurred if such cases were reported to hospitals or health facilities early enough. But unfortunately, healthcare, including eye health, is out of reach to the majority of the people living in the rural areas.