Patna: The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) is set to start a mobile ophthalmic unit soon which will visit villages for diagnosis of vision-related problems.
The unit, which seeks to provide early diagnosis of conditions that may lead to vision loss, will be equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities. Chair unit, slit lamp, auto refractometer, fundus camera would be among instruments that would be installed.
"The Union government has sanctioned Rs 30 lakh for the mobile ophthalmic unit in addition to Rs 15 lakh for the tele-ophthalmic facility at IGIMS. The civil surgeon's office has got the funds and it is supposed to transfer the funds to our account after which we would be able to start the facilities," said head of ophthalmology, IGIMS, Dr Bibhuti Prasad Sinha.
Bibhuti added: "The mobile ophthalmic unit would be linked to the tele-ophthalmic centre at IGIMS. The unit would run like an eye outpatient department as the junior doctors engaged in it will basically do an eye check-up, share diagnosis results and share case studies with senior doctors sitting at the tele-ophthalmic centre with the help of telecommunication, who will advise them on further treatment which they have to prescribe for the particular vision-related problem.
However, no surgery will be performed at the unit because eye surgeries require a good set-up along with facilities for post-operative observation and care which mobile ophthalmic units don't offer. So in cases such as glaucoma where surgery is required, those cases would be referred to IGIMS so that surgery can be done at the hospital.
Instruments such as slit lamp in the mobile ophthalmic unit would also have cameras which would be attached to the control room at the teleophthalmic centre.
The ophthalmology department of IGIMS has started new facilities recently. "Retina surgeries have been started while corneal transplant is also being done at the hospital. We are successfully running an eye bank. We are also participating in the National Blind Survey," added Bibhuti.
