A state of the art eye institute founded by renowned eye surgeon Dr Mahipal Sachdev was inaugurated by Urban Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Lt Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal on Monday.
The institute situated in Dwarka near the International Airport will also attract a lot of medical tourists looking for quality eye care in India.
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A former eye surgeon from AIIMS Dr Sachdev pioneered the eye care revolution in India with state of the art eye centres spread over 9 states.
Also present on the occasion were Delhi’s chief Secretary Anshu Prakash and CEO of the institute Dr Alka Sachdev besides leading citizens of the city.
The six-floor hospital is spread over an area of 90,000 square feet and has 20 consultation chambers, 17 examination centres and nine state-of-the-art and technologically advanced modular operation theatres.It will have a 24×7 days eye casualty.Among those present at the event were Union.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Mahipal Sachdev said that dearth of ophthalmologists in the country prevents even treatable eye problems to cause blindness.
“With only one ophthalmologist available for 90,000 people and with more than 15 million blind population and over 200 million needing some sort of eye care, the Centre of Sight Institute has the capacity to cater to entire North India as a one-stop institute to make a difference,’’ he said.
Responding to the concern expressed by the dignitaries for “affordable’’ eye treatment, Dr Alka Sachdev said that the Dwarka Institute had a separate wing for the economically weaker section wherein, without compromising the quality of equipment or services, all consultations, procedures and surgeries will be done at a subsidised cost.This will be in addition to the mobile van clinics that make regular visits to nearby villages to provide free eye care to the poor.
Lauding the fact that the Centre was providing ophthalmic care for more people than any other public or private facility in Delhi, Mr Baijal advised the doctors to restore the mutual feeling of trust between doctors and patients.“Since you are scaling up, please keep in mind your relationship with patients,’’ he said, while expressing the hope that the “magnificent facility’’ will be functionally efficient.
Recalling Braille inventor Helen Keller’ famous quote that, “the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision’’, Hardeep Puri said that in setting up the Institute, Dr Sachdev had displayed an entrepreneurial vision that was far-sighted and responding to a crying need of the society.He suggested the introduction of tourism eye care for people from foreign countries who had expensive medical treatment back home.Mr Prakash said the Centre should strive for further outreach in the community, training of paramedics, post-graduate teaching, providing fellowships and linking diabetes with eye diseases.’And, continue to make eye care affordable,’ he added.
The Centre for Sight has 47 facilities all over the country and has treated so far more than 50 lakh patients in phacoemulsification, blade-free cataract surgery, laser treatment, implantable contact lenses among others.