Annual Conference of IAMM

The 4th Annual Conference of Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists (IAMM)–Orissa Chapter was held on August 8, 2010 with Dr Savitri Sharma as the Organising Secretary. The conference was inaugurated by Dr C S Bhaskaran, renowned microbiologist and former Vice Chancellor of NTR Medical University.  Lt Gen D Raghunath (Retd.), member of Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation board, was honored with the Prof Bikram Das Memorial Oration award. A total of 14 free papers were presented by the faculty and postgraduate students from different parts of Orissa.

Dr Paul Rose at LVPEI

L V Prasad Eye Institute had a very special visitor on August 11, 2010. Dr Paul Rose, who developed the world-famous Rose K lens in 1989 was here to conduct a symposium on the Rose K lens. He spoke on the finer aspects of fitting of the Rose K lenses for various eye conditions such as keratoconus, irregular corneas and post grafting. This was followed by a live demonstration of the fitting of these lenses and discussions.

An optometrist from Hamilton, New Zealand, Dr Rose was concerned about patients suffering from keratoconus – a progressive condition in which the surface of the cornea becomes cone shaped. “When I was doing my graduation in 1967, every second case was diagnosed to be keratoconus. In fact, in the 1980s, when I was practicing, nearly 50% of the population in the area had keratoconus,” he says. Conventional contact lenses did not fit these unusual corneal shapes, spurring him to develop a contact lens that would be more comfortable for such patients and far easier to fit. This was the Rose K lens, wherein ‘K’ stands for keratoconus. After testing 700 lenses and 12 different designs, he produced a standardized set of 26 lenses which is used for all patients.  

Making an interesting observation Dr Rose states, “As I travel across the world for almost 23 weeks in a year, I observe that wherever there is isolation by culture, region or religion for that matter, the risk of keratoconus is very high. Small genetic pools tend to be more vulnerable to keratoconus because the disease is genetic.” He says the Middle East has a higher incidence of keratoconus, because of allergies caused by dryness and dust.

Dr Rose finds the present eye care scenario very encouraging: “The standards are higher than before. Patients are much better off than they were 20 years ago. When I was doing my graduation, nearly one-thirds of keratoconus patients ended up having grafts. But today the number of people going for grafts is far less.” He confesses that his views about the Indian markets not being evolved was proved wrong on this first ever visit to the country. “You go to Japan and you come across 20 optometrists but in India you have 200 optometrists,” he chuckles. 

 

LVPEI launches OneVision City Centre

On August 16, 2010, LVPEI launched a new venture — the “OneVision” City Centre that will extend eye care services to residents of the twin cities closer to their home. The “OneVision” center at Madhapur is the first of several City Centres that will enable people to access L V Prasad Eye Institute’s expertise and 23 years’ experience in eye care without traveling to the Banjara Hills campus.

Open 7 days a week, the OneVision City Centre at Madhapur will offer the following services:
•    A comprehensive eye examination
•    Cataract surgery using the most advanced techniques
•    Laser refractive surgery (LASIK)
•    Facial aesthetics including Botox and Fillers
•    Customized optical and contact lens services

OneVision will offer the same high standards of excellence and efficiency that are a hallmark of L V Prasad Eye Institute.

Contact information
OneVision
L V Prasad Eye Institute City Centre
House No. 1-88/5/A
Plot No. 274, Kavuri Hills
Madhapur Police Station
Hyderabad 500081

Timings: 7 am – 8 pm
Tel: +91 40 39171600, +91 9392912709
Email: onevision@lvpei.org

Help Desk at L V Prasad Eye Institute, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad: +91 40 30612110



 

LVPEI fellow selected for Best of Show award

Dr Surbhi Joshi, ophthalmic plastic surgery fellow at LVPEI, received the Best of Show award for her video “Sebaceous gland carcinoma: the leading masquerade!” at the 2010 joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Middle East Africa Council of Ophthalmology.
 

Award for LVPEI optometrist

T Shyam Sunder, an optometrist at LVPEI won the Best Scientific Paper Award for his presentation “Evaluation of corneal elevation and thickness indices in Pellucid Marginal Corneal Degeneration (PMCD) and Keratoconus (KCN)” at the ESO International Vision science and Optometry Conference (EIVOC) 2010, organized by Sankara Nethralaya at Chennai in August 2010.
 

LVPEI's clients lead India to victory in cricket series

Pushparaj and Mahender Vaishnav, two long-time clients of LVPEI's Dr PRK Prasad Centre for Rehabilitation of the Blind & Visually Impaired represented India in the Cricket Series for the Blind in England that began on August 7, 2010. They led India to victory by winning 3 matches out of the 4 played against England.

Indian Eye Research Group meeting

The 18th Annual Indian Eye Research Group (IERG) meeting was jointly organized by L V Prasad Eye Institute (Inderjeet Kaur, LVPEI) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Kallam Anji Reddy campus, Hyderabad on July 31 and August 1, 2010. This year, 200 delegates participated, of whom 18 research fellows received travel grants. There were 140 presentations, including 16 invited talks, 42 free papers and 82 poster presentations. The two new segments — a session on visual neuro-sciences and optometry and a special lecture on gene therapy for age-related macular degeneration by Genzyme — received an overwhelming response. Another highlight of the meeting was a proposal by Prof D Balasubramanian, Director of Research, LVPEI to launch an IERG-India ARVO chapter. Dr Gullapalli N Rao, Chair, LVPEI announced the Prof D Balasubramanian Oration award for future IERG meetings.

Three distinguished founder members of IERG, Dr P Namperumalsamy, Chairman, Aravind Eye Hospital; Dr S S Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Netralaya; and Dr Gullapalli N Rao were felicitated for their seminal contributions to eye care and eye research. The Bireswar Chakrabarti Oration Lecture was delivered by Dr Donita Garland from Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania, USA. The topic of the lecture was "The Efemp1-R345W knockin mouse: a model for early stage macular degeneration."

This year, all the four awards for best presentation were bagged by LVPEI — Kovai Vilas (Public Health) and Sandhya Subramanaian (Clinical Research) won Best Paper awards, while Subhash Gaddipati (Basic Sciences) and Aravind Roy (Clinical Research) won Best Poster awards.

Bhubaneswar campus’ 4th anniversary

L V Prasad Eye Institute, Bhubaneswar celebrated its 4th anniversary on July 3, 2010, by conducting a Continuous Medical Education (CME) program on “Neonatal ophthalmology”. Prof Lingam Gopal from Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai was the resource faculty for the CME, in which 28 delegates from Orissa participated. LVPEI faculty from Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar campus also delivered lectures. The event was videoconferenced live to the two campuses, which sparked a lively interaction among participants from all campuses.

In our quest to provide excellence and equity, LVPEI Bhubaneswar added a new ‘Ret Cam’ to the facilities at the Miriam Hyman Children’s Eye Care Centre. A press conference was organized on July 2, 2010, addressed by Dr Tapas Ranjan Padhi and Dr Siddharth Kesarwani of LVPEI Bhubaneswar along with Prof Lingam Gopal. 

In the evening, Dr Gullapalli N Rao, Chair, LVPEI network congratulated the staff on the progress made during the past four years. Course completion certificates were presented to Vision Technicians and Ophthalmic Nursing Assistants, and awards presented to patient care support staff and the Best Employee of the Year.
 

GMR Varalakshmi campus turns 4

LVPEI’s GMR Varalakshmi campus, Visakhapatnam celebrated its 4th anniversary on July 7, 2010, with an action-packed day! The highlights included the inauguration of a wet lab for trainees, a diagnostics center, a new OPD area, a telecounselling department and an audiovisual department. Under the Childhood Blindness Fortnight, observed from June 21 – July 3, 349 children below 12 years of age were screened for eye problems, free of charge. A School Screening Program was also launched under the Nimmagadda Prasad – LVPEI Children’s Eye Health, under which 675 schoolchildren were screened. Free spectacles were distributed to poor children from various schools in the city.
 

10th Rural satellite eye care centre

The foundation stone for Dr Kommareddy Raja Ram Mohan Rao Eye Centre, LVPEI’s 10th secondary-level rural satellite eye care centre was laid at Gudavalli village, Cherukupalli mandal, Guntur district on June 7, 2010 by Dr Gogineni Hariprasada Rao, senior ophthalmologist.

The Service Centre will provide excellent, efficient and equitable eye care services at the doorstep of the community in this underserved coastal region of Andhra Pradesh. The centre is supported by a local family foundation, Nayudamma Foundation for Education and Rural Development, managed by Dr Kodali Varaprasad and his brothers. Construction and training of the staff will begin in August and the centre is expected to be operational in the first quarter of the year 2011.

From right: Dr Gogineni Hariprasada Rao, Dr Kodali Varaprasad, Dr G Chandra Sekar, Director, LVPEI, Hyderabad, and Dr P Srinivasulu, Management Consultant, LVPEI, with local dignitaries