More corneal transplants set to be conducted at GPHC

Sep 25, 2015 News

Another batch of patients in need of corneal transplants will be able to undergo the procedure at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) next month.
According to a statement issued by the United States-based Subraj Foundation Transplantation Team, which will be tasked with facilitating the procedures, a team will be visiting Guyana as part of the not-for-profit organisation’s 23rd mission to Guyana.
The team is slated to be in Guyana to attend to patients between October 8 and October 11, 2015, during which time a number of patients will also be assessed for possible surgery.

The team of dedicated local eye theatre nurses and doctors.

It is expected that a total of 10 corneal transplant surgeries will be conducted on this occasion.
Moreover, the GPHC Department of Ophthalmology is encouraging any patient who has been previously recommended for corneal transplants by ophthalmologists, to visit the GPHC Eye Clinic. Patients are asked to bring along their letter of recommendation from their ophthalmologist in addition to the results of all investigations that were previously done.
The team headed by Dr. Rahul Jindal has been previously coming to Guyana with a record of completing 26 kidney transplants and 17 corneal transplants in Guyana. The first set of six corneal transplants was done in August of last year.
In July too another set of 11 corneal transplants was done at the GPHC.
Similar to its recent mission, the team from the US will comprise three physicians – Dr. Jindal along with two Corneal Tranplant Surgeons – Dr. Stephen Waller and Dr. Joseph Pasternak. They will be accompanied by members of the Subraj Foundation including Mr. George Subraj.
According to Dr. Shailendra Sugrim, Head of Department of Ophthalmology, over the past two months, the Department of Ophthalmology has been following up the patients from the last visit and all the patients have been doing very well.
“We have also been generating a new list of patients that will be seen by the team for the next set of corneal transplants. The team usually brings the donor corneas with them along with special microsurgical ophthalmic instruments to perform these surgeries,” he shared. The visiting Corneal Specialists will work along with local ophthalmologists to perform the surgeries.
The cornea – the clear “glass-window” of the eye – refracts light and allows the entrance of light into the eye and this enables people to see. Any disorder that makes the cornea cloudy or opacified can cause severe visual impairment. Many patients who become blinded by corneal opacities or disorders can regain their sight with corneal transplants.

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