About Vision on Wheels
Education – Some Hard Hitting Facts
- 1.4 million children under the age of 15 are blind worldwide!
- Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is one of the commonest causes of childhood blindness!
- We are facing the third epidemic of ROP in the world today!
- India is one among the few middle income nations having a very high incidence of ROP!
- ROP occurs in preterm babies with low birth weight!
- Treatment is by emergency Laser surgery!
- If untreated 50% of babies become permanently blind!
- There are a lot of babies in the rural areas with no access to health care who are not getting screened for ROP
- There are less than 150 pediatric retina specialists trained to treat this disorder in India today! Logistically it is not possible for them to travel to remote places for screening.
- Tele ophthalmology with a mobile camera such as the RETCAM with internet transfer of images of the retina of babies in villages to the paediatric retina specialist is the key!
In order to reach out to babies from rural areas, Vision On Wheels: Phase II of Balanethra project was envisaged wherein a mobile van with a retinal camera (RETCAM) would be sent to the villages and photographs of the retina of the pre-term babies taken, graded by the certified technician (tele-ROP screening) and sent via internet to the doctors at Radhatri Nethralaya. Those babies requiring treatment would be shifted immediately for free treatment to Radhatri Nethralaya in Chennai.
Through the donation of the camera Neo RETCAM by one of our patrons, this project is finally made possible. A mobile van which is sturdy enough to transport the sensitive camera and the babies, negotiating the rough village roads, was procured recently in March 2018, thanks to contributions from well wishers and philanthropic organizations. The van would soon be modified to carry an infant warmer/incubator. In rural areas, due to poverty and lack of awareness, the parents hesitate to bring the baby on their own to the city for treatment. So, to ensure that the screening culminates in timely treatment of the needy babies, they have to be brought back for treatment preferably in the same van on the same day.
We are happy to inform you that, about 45000 babies were screened all over TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh in far flung places such as Tiruvallur, Tirupattur, Villupuram, Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai and Sriperumbudur and more than 3000 of the needy babies underwent laser surgeries free of cost at Radhatri Nethralaya.
The running cost of the project includes fuel and toll fees, medical supplies and emoluments of the driver, technician and nurse and is currently borne by Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation. The average cost per trip to a rural area works out to approximately Rs. 10,000.
To sustain the Vision On Wheels project, kindly come forward with your generous support for the cost of screening trips at Rs 10,000 per trip and/or the subsidized laser surgery at Rs.10,000 per baby (for both the eyes). Your contribution would be earmarked for this project and enable us to carry forward this well-conceived plan.
| Year | Screening | Laser Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-2019 | 2313 | 179 |
| 2019-2020 | 6687 | 286 |
| 2020-2021 | 5757 | 180 |
| 2021-2022 | 10493 | 444 |
Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation
Radhatri Nethralaya (RN) is a 16 year-old NABH accredited super speciality tertiary eye care hospital in T. Nagar, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. At RN, we provide international standards of best medical and surgical eye care, with compassion and sensitivity to our patient’s needs, irrespective of socio-economic background. Our Public Charitable trust, Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation (GVRF) was launched in 2009, in keeping with this philosophy to ensure free eye care to the needy.
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