Milestones in giving a gift of sight to the poor

Dr. K. Satish, Head of Ophthalmology Department at K.R. Hospital, examining a patient. Picture right shows Dr. Sandhya Hegde attending to a patient.

K.R. Hospital Ophthalmology wing performs 40 cataract surgeries daily; over 5,000 annually
State-of-the-art equipment worth Rs. 2.6 crore imported from Switzerland, Finland, Germany

Mysore/Mysuru: At a time when many private eye hospitals are offering best services to patients with vision problems in Mysuru, the Ophthalmology Department at State-run K.R. Hospital is also competing with them in providing state-of-the-art facilities for patients who mostly come from poor and middle-class families.

On average, over 40 cataract surgeries are performed daily and over 5,000 surgeries are performed annually. Notably, a majority of the daily surgeries are performed free of cost by phacoemulsification plus foldable intraocular lens implantation which costs around Rs. 30,000 or more outside.

Every day, over 300 to 400 outpatients are examined and referred to surgeries based on their diagnosis. Other surgeries performed for free include corneal transplant, trabeculectomy, dacryocystorhinostomy/ dacryocystectomy, pterygium excision, and autografting oculoplastic and squint surgeries.

There are qualified doctors who provide specialised services including cataract surgery — phacoemulsification cataract surgery and manual SICS plus IOL implantation, cornea and corneal transplant surgery, glaucoma services and retinal services, both surgical and medical.

Advanced imported equipment

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Professor and Head of Ophthalmology Department Dr. K. Satish said that they had procured many advanced machines like the Oertli posterior vitrectomy and phoco machine from Switzerland costing about Rs. 50 lakh used for retinal surgeries, Nd YAG laser capsulotomy from Carl Zeiss, Germany, that costs Rs. 20 lakh used for posterior capsulotomy and iridotomy, Humphrey field analyser from Carl Zeiss, Germany, costing Rs. 20 lakh used for glaucoma evaluation.

This apart, an operating microscope with XY coupling and HD camera has been procured from Carl Zeiss, Germany, costing Rs. 20 lakh for performing all surgeries, and two digital tonometers worth Rs. 5 lakh have been procured from Icare, Finland, for glaucoma evaluation and Class ‘B’ autoclave 85-litre capacity has been procured worth Rs. 7 lakh.

Other equipment that has been recently commissioned at the Department includes two Zeiss operating microscopes worth Rs. 18 lakh each, a Zeiss phaco machine worth Rs. 15 lakh, an AMO phaco machine from the USA worth Rs. 14 lakh that has been donated by Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Ltd., OCT worth Rs. 34 lakh, Fundus camera worth Rs. 18 lakh, slit lamp laser delivery system worth Rs. 17 lakh and a slit lamp with imaging worth Rs. 11 lakh, he added.

Other doctors serving in the Department are Associate Professors Dr. D.N. Prakash, Dr. Madhusudhan, Dr. R. Raghavendra, Dr. Shubhratha S.Hegde, Assistant Professors Dr. R. Swati, Dr. Sandhya Dharwadkar and Dr. Madhuri Parande.

Though the Department is offering the best services, several vacancies for retired doctors, technicians, nurses and D-Group employees have not been filled and as such, there is increased pressure on the existing staff. “If the Government fills up the vacancies, we can perform at optimum level without any issues,” Dr. Satish added.

Spurt in eye donation after Puneeth Rajkumar’s death

Pledging and donation of eyes have been on the rise at K.R. Hospital Ophthalmology Department since the passing of Kannada actor ‘Power Star’ Puneeth Rajkumar. The star, who died on October 29, 2021, had pledged his eyes like his father, the legendary actor Dr. Rajkumar.

In November last year, 219 persons had pledged their eyes and the eyes of 14 who died were retrieved. Likewise, 16 eyes were retrieved in December last year, 12 in January this year, 10 in February, 16 in March, 6 each in April and May and 8 eyes have been retrieved in June this year.