Preventing needless blindness
These are several service projects under the GVRF umbrella.
We help you see better.
We had some soul-satisfying moments in the community ophthalmology front. We have several initiatives under our public charitable trust.
Free Vision restoring Cataract surgery for the rural poor.
This involves sending our vehicle to the rural areas or urban slums, screening the patients for cataract, bringing them back to Radhatri Nethralaya, doing blood tests to assess surgical fitness, physician assessment of fitness, sutureless cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation and dropping them back to their homes after an overnight stay.
We tie up with several NGOs upon request such as Lions, Rotary, FreeMasons, Innerwheel etc., We solicit a nominal donation of 5000 Rs for each surgery.
Free Vision screening camps for school children
Vision screening camps for school children done at the schools. Every year, 50 such camps are conducted in schools and children with vision problems are identified who can subsequently come to Radhatri Nethralaya for a free consultation and subsidised treatment. Although Indian statistics say that 5% of school going children need to wear glasses, our experience puts the percentage higher at 25 to 30%. More than one lakh students have been screened after 50 such camps.
Radhatri Sight Saving Project for the Young
Project RAYS has been started to focus on delivery of free eye care to the young. In this regard, for the past many years Dr. Vasumathy has been visiting the following government hospitals: IOG (Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology), RSRM, Stanley Hospital, Kilpauk Medical college and Govt. Maternity Hospital, Triplicane for free screening for Retinopathy of Prematurity, a blinding disorder affecting preterm babies.
Radhatri Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy Project in association with Rotary.
Diabetic eye disease camp to detect the blinding condition due to diabetes: Diabetic Retinopathy.
This is project is done in association with diabetologists and other NGOs.
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Health
Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is an unrecognised yet very common cause of preventable childhood blindness. India ranks globally number one in preterm births and most of the preterm births happen in the underprivileged sections of the society due to lack of maternal nutrition and hygiene. The blindness in these babies is unrecognised and huge due to lack of awareness, lack of screening facilities and lack of adequate trained paediatric retina specialists (only 150 approximately in India).
Project Balanethra: Tender Vision encompasses free screening and vision preserving laser treatment for preterm babies from urban slums and villages in and around Chennai. In addition, awareness talks are given to the young mothers about maternal hygiene, nutrition and spacing between deliveries to avoid preterm births in the future.
This is an initiative of Radhatri Nethralaya and Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation (the public charitable trust of Radhatri Nethralaya). Over 75,000 babies were screened and 535 babies were prevented from becoming blind till now, through this project. The Rotary International, USA has recognised Radhatri Nethralaya as a centre to perform free ROP surgeries through a global grant in 2017.
SOME HARD HITTING FACTS…..
- 1.4 million children under the age of 15 are blind worldwide!
- Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is one of the commonest causes of childhood blindness!
- We are facing the third epidemic of ROP in the world today!
- India is one among the few middle income nations having a very high incidence of ROP!
- ROP occurs in preterm babies with low birth weight!
- Treatment is by emergency Laser surgery!
- If untreated 50% of babies become permanently blind!
- There are less than 150 pediatric retina specialists trained to treat this disorder in India today!
BALANETHRA PROJECT
THE SOCIAL IMPACT…
Radhatri Nethralaya had successfully treated 143 babies with ROP in a 3 year window (2007-2010).
143 infants treated so far will contribute : 143 infants x Rs. 88,533 (per capita income) x 65 years (life expectancy) = Rs. 822,914,235 (822.9 million Rs), Approx USD 55 billion of savings to society!
The numbers in 2011 to 2017 have increased by three times, thanks to increased awareness…. But there are a lot of poor babies with no access to treatment due to the cost….
Balanethra Project aims to ensure that no baby loses vision due to lack of funds!
We solicit a nominal donation of 10,000 Rs for vision preserving laser surgery on both the eyes for a baby from poor economic background
Education
SOME HARD HITTING FACTS…
- 1.4 million children under the age of 15 are blind worldwide!
- Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is one of the commonest causes of childhood blindness!
- We are facing the third epidemic of ROP in the world today!
- India is one among the few middle income nations having a very high incidence of ROP!
- ROP occurs in preterm babies with low birth weight!
- Treatment is by emergency Laser surgery!
- If untreated 50% of babies become permanently blind!
- There are a lot of babies in the rural areas with no access to health care who are not getting screened for ROP
- There are less than 150 pediatric retina specialists trained to treat this disorder in India today! Logistically it is not possible for them to travel to remote places for screening.
- Tele ophthalmology with a mobile camera such as the RETCAM with internet transfer of images of the retina of babies in villages to the paediatric retina specialist is the key!
In order to reach out to babies from rural areas, Vision On Wheels: Phase II of Balanethra project was envisaged wherein a mobile van with a retinal camera (RETCAM) would be sent to the villages and photographs of the retina of the pre-term babies taken, graded by the certified technician (tele-ROP screening) and sent via internet to the doctors at Radhatri Nethralaya. Those babies requiring treatment would be shifted immediately for free treatment to Radhatri Nethralaya in Chennai.
Through the donation of the camera Neo RETCAM by one of our patrons, this project is finally made possible. A mobile van which is sturdy enough to transport the sensitive camera and the babies, negotiating the rough village roads, was procured recently in March 2018, thanks to contributions from well wishers and philanthropic organizations. The van would soon be modified to carry an infant warmer/incubator. In rural areas, due to poverty and lack of awareness, the parents hesitate to bring the baby on their own to the city for treatment. So, to ensure that the screening culminates in timely treatment of the needy babies, they have to be brought back for treatment preferably in the same van on the same day.
We are happy to inform you that, in the first nine months of the project, about 1800 babies were screened in far flung places such as Tiruvallur, Tirupattur, Villupuram, Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai and Sriperumbudur and more than 110 of the needy babies underwent laser surgeries free of cost at Radhatri Nethralaya.
The running cost of the project includes fuel and toll fees, medical supplies and emoluments of the driver, technician and nurse and is currently borne by Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation. The average cost per trip to a rural area works out to approximately Rs. 10,000.
To sustain the Vision On Wheels project, kindly come forward with your generous support for the cost of screening trips at Rs 10,000 per trip and/or the subsidized laser surgery at Rs.10,000 per baby (for both the eyes). Your contribution would be earmarked for this project and enable us to carry forward this well-conceived plan.