Exim bank donated a retinal camera, The 3nethra Neo, to image the eyes of preterm babies to Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation (GVRF), the public charitable trust of Radhatri Nethralaya, T.Nagar on March 13.
The camera would be used for Project Vision on Wheels, the rural teleophthalmology project of Radhatri Nethralaya, under the aegis of GVRF, which screens for blinding conditions in preterm babies in villages.
Dharmendra Sachan, General Manager and other members of Exim Bank visited Radhatri Nethralaya to donate the camera.
Dr. Praveen Krishna, Trustee, GVRF and Medical Director, Radhatri Nethralaya said, that the project Vision on Wheels, screened the preterm babies of underprivileged parents for the blinding condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) from the villages in rural Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh and any baby found to have ROP was immediately transported to Radhatri Nethralaya for free vision preserving treatment. Our technicians, whom we fondly refer to as women warriors travel upto 400 kms from Chennai to screen the babies in villages, he added.
Dr. Vasumathy Vedantham, Managing Trustee, GVRF and Medical Director, Radhatri Nethralaya, who made a presentation on ROP, said that ROP was the commonest cause of childhood blindness in middle income countries such as India. With only 150 pediatric retina specialists in India, and ROP being a predominantly rural problem, interventions like teleophthalmology and hand-held retinal cameras to screen all babies in villages were needed. Project Vision on Wheels, is our signature free rural teleophthalmology project, through which more than 1 lakh 50,000 babies have been screened in rural Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh by our technicians and more than 5000 babies prevented from blindness by timely laser, injections and vitrectomy surgeries under general anaesthesia, she added.