LVPEI Gets German Tech for Cornea, Laser Refractive Surgery

Inspite of rapid advances in healthcare technology in treating eye problems, many people are still falling prey to eye disorders, eye specialists at LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) observed.

Two high precision automated corneal tissue processing systems to enable preparation of pre-sculpted tissue for corneal transplants in the eye bank and two high precision microkeratomes to assist in flap creating during LASIK surgery, have been donated by Germany-based medical equipment company Gebauer Medizintechnik GmbH, with the support of the German government in the form of a grant from the Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) to LV Prasad Eye Institute.

LVPEI was recently felicitated at the silver jubilee function of the Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI) in New Delhi, for achieving a record 20,000 corneal transplants, by a single institute.

LVPEI celebrated its Foundation Day on Saturday and has served over 19.7 million (1.97 crore) people with more than 50 percent services provided free of cost, regardless of complexity, since its inception 28 years ago.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Pravin Krishna Vaddavalli, Head Refractive Surgery, Cataract, Contact Lens Service, LVPEI, said, "This grant has allowed the staff of Gebauer to travel multiple times to Hyderabad and other locations of L V Prasad Eye Institute to assist in the installation and also provide training to the Ophthalmologists, staff and eye bank technicians, who will help in processing tissues and making them available to all Corneal specialists through the community eye banking program."

These advanced instruments will be located at the Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar campuses of L V Prasad Eye Institute, and will help in improving the outcomes of both corneal transplantations and of laser refractive surgery.

Source: Medindia