22 September 2021, Wednesday, Hyderabad: Honourable Minister for Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Industries & Commerce, and Information Technology, Govt. of Telangana – Sri K T Rama Rao on 22 September 2021 inaugurated the Poornima & Ramam Atmakuri Technology Centre at L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI)’s Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care (GPR ICARE), Kismatpur.
Innovation has been a part of LVPEI’s DNA right from its inception in 1987. Beginning 2013, the institute started focusing on ‘Technology and Product Innovation’ to integrate technology and eye care, aiming to bring down the cost of delivering eye care and making high-quality eye care accessible to the community, thereby tackling geographical and economic challenges. All the technology and innovation work done at LVPEI will now fall under the umbrella of the Poornima & Ramam Atmakuri Technology Centre. The Centre includes - product development, re-engineered medical eye care products, scleral lens manufacturing (speciality contact lenses), Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems and the Data Science and Healthcare Incubator.
In recognition of the significant contribution made by Mr Ramam Atmakuri – Executive Vice-Chair, LVPEI, towards the technology development initiatives at the institute, the centre has been named after him and his wife - Mrs Poornima Atmakuri. Equipped with a state-of-the-art facility, the centre has a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, ophthalmologists, optometrists, technologists and public health specialists.
'Our constant effort is to reduce the dependency of LVPEI on imported surgical tools, spare parts and machines and come up with indigenously developed innovative solutions to fulfil this requirement, and also develop low cost innovate devices and technologies to meet the eye health needs of the large populations. We thank KTR garu for joining us on this special occasion,' said Dr Ramesh Kekunnaya, Director, Centre for Technology Innovation at LVPEI.
Some of the significant headways made at the centre are:
- Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system: The award-winning in-house developed ophthalmic Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system and hospital management system is being used in all 230+ LVPEI entres and 33 partner hospitals spread across India, Liberia, Nepal, Cambodia, Mexico, Cyprus and the Dominican Republic.
- Centre for Innovation (supported by CYIENT): During the formal ideation of the centre in 2013, late Sri APJ Abdul Kalam had graced the occasion and later in 2018, the centre was formally inaugurated by Sri K T Rama Rao. The centre received significant financial support from Hyderabad based technology corporation, Cyient. The centre has produced many award winning innovations including the Pediatric Perimeter – the patented, breakthrough device that tests the visual field in babies.
- LVPEI-BostonSight Lens Manufacturing Lab: To provide affordable, effective and customized speciality contact lenses - Scleral Lenses - to patients with complex ocular surface disorders, a state-of-the-art LVPEI BostonSight Lens Manufacturing Lab has been set up at LVPEI’s Kismaptur campus. It is the only facility in India and the second facility in the world after BostonSight to manufacture these speciality lenses.
- Healthcare Incubation Centre: Supported by BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) under their BioNEST Scheme, the Healthcare Incubator at LVPEI is the only incubator in the country in a hospital set-up providing end-to-end support to medical innovators to incubate their ideas to create an impact. The centre aims to help start-ups, SMEs (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises), research institutes and hospitals create viable and scalable products and services, focusing on patient safety and higher compliance with regulatory standards.
About LVPEI: Established in 1987, L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Prevention of Blindness, is a comprehensive eye health facility. The Institute has ten active arms to its areas of operations: Clinical Services, Education, Research, Vision Rehabilitation, Rural and Community Eye Health, Eye Banking, Advocacy and Policy Planning, Capacity Building, Innovation and Product Development. The LVPEI Eye Care Network has 236 Centres spread across the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka in India. The institute's mission is to provide equitable and quality eye care to all sections of society. The LVPEI’s five-tier ‘Eye Health Pyramid’ model covering all sections of society right from the villages to the city, provides high quality and comprehensive - prevention, curative and rehabilitation – eye care to all. It has served over 32.11 million (3 crore 21 lakh people), over 50% of them entirely free of cost, irrespective of the complexity of care needed.