(1888PressRelease)
May 27, 2009 - Bangalore, India - Sankara Eye Hospital, Bangalore, in association with Sightsavers International, UK and the Dept of Health, Government of Karnataka organized a two day workshop on May 20th and 21st 2009 for District Eye surgeons and District Programme managers on “Best Practices in Management of Cataract”.
Sankara Eye Hospital is a unit of the Coimbatore-based Sankara Eye Care Institutions, which runs a chain of super specialty affordable and quality eye care hospitals in India. The workshop is the first of its kind to be held in Karnataka, with a focus of making available high quality eye care to the underprivileged, who are been benefited by the programmes under the National Program for control of Blindness. Through such workshops Sankara is trying to ensure quality medical care is given to the needy irrespective of socioeconomic considerations. The workshop was attended by more than 50 eye surgeons and programme managers from various districts in Karnataka.
The resource persons of Sankara Eye Hospital shared the best practice protocols which have been developed as a consensus with other national organizations on the management of various facets of cataract surgery. The importance of the principles of quality, standardization, monitoring and surveillance was emphasized. Earlier similar kind of workshops have been organized by Sightsavers for Government officials in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra .
“We should appreciate the efforts of Sankara Eye Hospital along with Sightsavers International in sharing their experiences in community eye care and in trying to improve the quality of care provided to patients undergoing cataract in Karnataka “said Dr. Halkatti, Joint.Director, Dept of Opthalmology, Govt. of Karnataka. Sankara’s rural Out-Reach Eye Care Program “ Gift of Vision “ is supported by District Blindness Control Society, Sankara Eye Foundation USA and Sight Savers (U.K). It was started as a joint program in 1990 with the active participation of Rotary International and Rotary Coimbatore Central, and covers the states of Tamilnadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka targeting the economically weaker sections.
Dr.Umesh,Chief Medical Officer, Sankara Eye Hospitals, said “It is our constant endeavour to offer the best in care treatment & facilities to everyone. Our state-of-the-art eye care facility & our doctors with their enormous amount of experience are best equipped to impart the best practices they adopt in offering word class treatment & care.”
The programme treats patients with surgically curable blindness including cataract, glaucoma, retinal ailments and even pediatric eye diseases such as squint.
The Government launched the National Programme for control of Blindness in 1976 with the goal to reduce the prevalence of blindness and to develop eye care facilities in every district. To control blindness, district blindness control societies are also established across the country and a number of NGOs play a crucial role in controlling blindness in India.
Achievements under the programme
• 307 dedicated eye operation theatres and eye wards in District level hospitals have been constructed;
• Supply of Ophthalmic equipments for diagnosis and treatment of common eye disorders
• More than 2000 Eye Surgeons trained in IOL surgery as well as other super specialties.
• Recent surveys have confirmed higher success rate following cataract surgery with Intra Ocular Lens implantation as compared to conventional surgery. Follow up of operated cases was an important factor in those cases who had poor visual outcome following cataract surgery
About Sankara Eye Care Institutions: With 8 state-of-the art eye hospitals in Coimbatore, Guntur, Krishnankovil, Bangalore, Shimoga, Anand, Pammal and Silvassa, Sankara Eye Care Institutions deliver quality eye care through the “Gift of Vision” rural outreach eye care programme. So far the programme has conducted 7,594 free weekly eye screening camps, and performed 525,000 free eye surgeries. For more information you can visit www.sankaraeye.com.
About Sightsavers International, UK: Sightsavers International is a registered UK charity that works in more than 30 developing countries to prevent blindness, restore sight and advocate for social inclusion and equal rights for people who are blind and visually impaired. There are 45 million blind people in the world, 75% of all blindness can be prevented or cured. Since 1950, Sightsavers has restored sight to more than 5.65 million people and treated over 100 million. For more information you can visit www.sightsavers.org
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