TN-CWEALTH-EYECARE

TN hospital trains ophthalmologists from C'wealth nations,
wins laurels from British Queen
Madurai, Nov 12 (PTI) A leading eye hospital here has
brought laurels to India by playing a major role in a mission
aimed at eradicating needless blindness in the Commonwealth
nations by training personnel, including ophthalmologists,
nurses and microbiologists under a programme funded by British
Queen Elizabeth II.
The doctors and paramedical staff trained by it in India
will now be able to manage complex sub-speciality problems
such as corneal ulcers, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, a
senior ophthalmologist of the city-based Arvind Eye Care
System (AECS), which organised the programme, said.
Opthalmologists from 19 countries including Nigeria,
Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Mauritius and Rwanda
attended the five-year training programme at AEC, funded by
the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust (QEDJT).
The trust provided 13.55 million Pound for the programme
implemented in eight countries, including in India.
AECS in India is one of the 15 network host training
institutions in the eight Commonwealth countries around the
world, according to Dr Venkatesh Prajna, ophthalmologist of
the hospital and a member of the Steering Committee for
training of the Commonwealth Eye Care Consortium.
The hospital, founded by late Dr G. Venkataswamy who
was credited with introducing a number of innovative
programmes, including eye camps, to deal with the problem of
blindness in the country, played a major role in the success
of the programme and trained 40 per cent of the targeted
ophthalmologists, he told PTI here.
The British Queen recently honoured all institutions,
including the AECS, which took part in the programme and
lauded their efforts.
Dr Prajna said he was among those who attended a
reception hosted by the Queen in the Buckingham Palace last
week for their role in training the ophthalmologists.
Prof Matthew Burton of the International centre for Eye
Health, London, UK, in a letter to Prajna has described as
colossal the contributions made by the AECS.
Though it was expected that the programme would train
100 personnel from the Commonwealth countries, it far exceeded
the target with 140 individuals from 19 nations benefiting
from the programme, Prajna said.
Elaborating on the training, he said earlier the
ophthalmologists focused on cataract surgeries alone, but the
training in this programme, bulk of which was organised in
India, will help them treat cornea and retina problem and gain
expertise in pediatric ophthalmology, oculoplasty besides in
taking Opthalmic photography.
Giving an example of acute shortage of opthalmologists
in many Commonwealth countries, he said Mozambique had only 27
opthalmologists for 27 million population, making it the
country with the lowest doctor patient ratio in the world.
According to official data, a total of 12,000 children
in Mozambique were living in blindness and the country's sole
Paediatric opthalmologist Vasco da Gama was trained in the
AECS, Prajna said.
The Indian doctors also trained a team including a
ophtalmic nurse and refractionist. In fact, Dr Gama, with the
Help of AECS, devised a health care policy and it had been
approved by the government of Mozambique, he said.
Dr Nick Astbury Clinical Associate Professor of
Diability and Eye health group London said AECS had trained
both long term fellow and specialists and short term
attachments in eight disciplines.
Tanzania also had set up training programme after
getting training from Aravind ECS and this would have a ripple
effect. Poor and under privileged countries in and around
Tanzania would also benefit from the programme, he added. PTI
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)