A SMALL 108-bed hospital in a remote corner of the city has spearheaded the war against blindness in the State.
Manohar Das Eye Hospital, the ophthalmology wing of the Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, conducted a record 14,174 intra ocular lens transplant (IOL) on cataract patients in the year 2005-06.
The institute has single handedly outdone the performance of all the other medical colleges in UP (except Agra Medical College) which managed to do only 10,388 IOL cases in the year.
Interestingly, of the total 14,174 IOL cases conducted by a team of 20 ophthalmic surgeons, director Dr SP Singh (a world record holder for conducting maximum cataract surgeries in a single day) alone conducted 4,158 cataract surgeries and IOL implantation. He also created another world record by performing 150 cataract IOL implantation, highest number of surgery in a single day, on February 17, 2006.
The contribution by a small team of 20 eye surgeons of MD Eye Hospital, under Dr SP Singh, has led Allahabad district to secure fourth position in the National Programme For Control of Blindness (NPCB), among 18 districts in UP.
“Cataract is the cause of blindness in 62 per cent cases, according to a national survey conducted between 2001 to 2005. So if we manage to generate awareness about cataract and promote a large number of cataract surgeries with IOL implantation in every eye care institute, we will be able to control blindness by over 62 per cent in India,” said Dr SP Singh.
{{/usCountry}}“Cataract is the cause of blindness in 62 per cent cases, according to a national survey conducted between 2001 to 2005. So if we manage to generate awareness about cataract and promote a large number of cataract surgeries with IOL implantation in every eye care institute, we will be able to control blindness by over 62 per cent in India,” said Dr SP Singh.
{{/usCountry}}The hospital, which has recently acquired the status of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, has also been selected amongst the top six prestigious Ophthalmology institutes in India by the Government of India for strengthening the eye care infrastructure and conducting cataract surgery camps in North Eastern States, including the State of Sikkim.
“It is an honour to get selected among high profile institutes for developing eye care facilities in North Eastern States. A study was conducted by Ophthalmology Section of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS in 2002-03, which indicated that NE States have a very poor eye care infrastructure,” Dr Singh added.