Aravind Eye Care System gets High End Biometry Equipment

 As part of the “Gift of Sight” Global Grant Project with Rotary International, Rotary Club of Madras East (RCME), in partnership with Rotary Clubs of Cataraqui – Kingston and Kingston, Canada, donated 4 high end automated Biometry equipment to the Aravind Eye Care System(AECS) hospitals in Dindigul, Udumalpet, Tuticorin and Tirupur, at a total cost of US$ 124,000 or INR 88, 00, 000 approximately.  It is estimated that each Biometry equipment will benefit at least 25,000 people annually.

The inauguration took place at the Aravind Eye Hospital, Chennai in the presence of Rtn Babu Peram, District Governor, Rotary District 3232, and Dr G. Natchiar, Founding Member, Aravind Eye Care System.  The Guest of Honour Mr N. K. Nandhagopal, Director, The Chennai Silks Group, Tirupur, simultaneously dedicated the equipment at Aravind Eye Hospital, from Tirupur. This was viewed through videoconferencing at the Chennai Hospital.

According to Dr. R M Narayanan, President RCME, “Each hospital covers a population of 1 million with primary focus on Cataracts and refractive errors. Cataract blindness accounts for 60% of the blindness in these communities and good quality cataract surgery restores 100% vision and enables the individual to lead a productive and dignified life. One of the key investigations to give quality vision in cataract surgery is to measure the Intra Ocular Lens (IOL) power accurately. Till now, these hospitals have been measuring the IOL power manually.

With this advanced automatic measurement, the post cataract surgery visual acuity will be nearly 100%. This way the poorest of poor farmers and daily wage labourers in rural areas will also benefit from this equipment.