Residents of low-income neighbourhoods are set to get better tertiary eye care facilities at their doorstep shortly.
As part of the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, various institutions on Friday launched a Slum Vision Project through Rajan Eye Care Hospital.
Launching the project, District Governor RI 3230 Natarajan Nagoji said three lakh residents in Chennai are likely to be covered.
Rajan Eye Care Hospital Chairman and Medical Director Mohan Rajan said comprehensive eye screening will be done for all slum dwellers. “The aim of the project is to identify and treat curable blindness in the slum population. More than 26 per cent of the population in Chennai are living in slums. There are 3,000 slums with a population of two million,” said Dr. Rajan.
A total of 1,000 slums will be covered in the next four years in Chennai Metropolitan Area and its suburbs.
The project will be implemented by a mobile ophthalmic clinic supported by the Cognizant Foundation and the Vijay Amritraj Foundation. The mobile clinic is equipped with Fundus camera, green laser, yag laser, tele ophthalmic unit, slit lamp, biomicroscope and non contact tonometer.
The mobile clinic will visit slums and carry out vision testing, diabetic retinopathy screening, glaucoma screening, laser treatment, green laser for diabetic retinopathy free of cost. “Patients who require cataract or other eye surgeries will be transported to the base hospitalfree of cost,” said Dr.Rajan.
