annualreport-16-17

L V Prasad Eye Institute Excellence
Equity
Activity Report 2016 - 2017 Efficiency

Copyright © 2017 / All rights reserved
Editors: Dr Sreedevi Yadavalli, Neha Hassija
Design: Y Yedukondalu, N Kishore Kumar and N Ramgopal
Assistance: Vamshi Inaganti, Sharmila, Lakshmi Sakuntala, B Satish and Ch Ravinder
Photography: SBN Chary and Naresh Gattu; Dr Srinivas Marmamula; and LVPEI Archives
Donor Relations: Sam J Balasundaram and Mahaveer Jain
Printers: Pragati Offset Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad

Foreword

Into the Future

The past year (April 2016-March 2017) can On the 'Primary Eye Care' front, we have
be distinctly characterized into a movement expanded to more geographic territories,
to the future with the implementation have begun forging new partnerships,
of the strategic objectives of 'Institutes enhanced the technology component
of Excellence (IOE)' and 'Primary Eye to maximize benefits and are training
Care (PEC)' (part of our 'Next 25' goals). more professionals. These two major
Together these will accelerate our journey programmes with advances made by
for achieving the goal of "Universal Eye our Innovation Center and Ophthalmic
Health" for the populations we serve Engineering Center, have set a new
directly and help in the capacity building of direction for our Institute's future.
others to achieve this goal. Our concept of In clinical care, most campuses recorded
creating IOE has received positive response record volumes without losing sight
from several supporters that has led to the of equity. Record numbers of corneas
inauguration of some of these Institutes. harvested and transplanted, special
The Tej Kohli Cornea Institute has already forms of contact lenses (scleral lenses)
made a sizeable impact and initiated dispensed, children served with special
partnerships with a few global institutions focus on cataract, glaucoma, retinopathy of
already. Aurobindo Geriatric Eye Institute, prematurity and retinoblastoma eye cancer,
Academy of Eye Care Education, Institute scores of schools screened, special clinic on
of Eye Cancer, Institute of Dacryology, cortical visual impairment, focus on niche
Brien Holden Institute of Optometry and areas such as dacryology, incorporating
Vision Sciences, Child Sight Institute (which more visual functions in routine testing,
has just received a major philanthropic addition of a "Clinic for the Unknown" to
gift), Institute for Ocular Regeneration solve some puzzling clinical problems were
and Institute for Vision Rehabilitation all representative of the year.
have begun to explore newer frontiers.

Research had an exciting and productive were initiated in about six of our secondary
year with greater penetration into areas centres and the results are gratifying as they
of stem cell biology genetics, visual eliminate travel costs to the economically
psychophysics and imaging. Addition of disadvantaged rural families.
new cGMP and cGLP facilities, adoptive Increasing adoption of technology in more
optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, areas of our work, more alliances forged
newer and expanded research space, towards this end, and our technology group
addition of myopia research, biosynthetic receiving several honours, has been a clear
cornea and ocular tuberculosis units with indication of the potential of the reach and
expanded work in infections, antibiotic coverage of the innovative products.
resistance and newer ways of drug delivery This phenomenal year was a product of
contributed to this. Much of this work is the hard work and compassion of our team
significantly translational with potential for and ever increasing support from generous
large scale application to counter several individuals and organizations. The number
forms of ocular morbidity and dysfunction. as well as the size of contributions have
Equally exciting is the migration of increased, reflecting the trust we enjoy.
some aspects of tertiary care such as This certainly adds to our burden of
corneal transplantation, laser therapy, responsibility to do more and better. We
management of more complex glaucomas, are cognizant of this and ready to face the
children's care and plastic surgery - bringing challenges with greater vigour as we move
them closer to the "doorstep" of people "Into the Future".
who need them the most. These services

Gullapalli N Rao

Chair, Board of Trustees

c 1 Network Map .................................................................. 04
2 Year at a Glance .............................................................. 06

o 3 30 Years of Excellence .................................................... 07
n 4 Highlights of the Year ...................................................... 09
t 5 Linkages .......................................................................... 10
e 6 Awards & Honours .......................................................... 12
n 7 Campus News ................................................................. 16

8 Patient Care ..................................................................... 24

t 9 Vision Rehabilitation ....................................................... 30
s 10 Eye Banking .................................................................... 34

11 Rural and Community Eye Health ................................... 38
12 Education ........................................................................ 44
13 Research ......................................................................... 48
14 Innovation ...................................................................... 52
16 Donor Stories .................................................................. 56
17 List of Board Members ..................................................... 64

The LVPEI Eye Care Network

Bhubaneswar

Kumaram Bheem Asifabad

Bhadradri Kothagudem Visakhapatnam

Hyderabad

Vijayawada

KARNATAKA

4

As of March 2017

1 Centre of Excellence

Serves 50 mn population

3 Tertiary Centres

Each serves 5 mn population

16 Secondary Eye Care Centres* 9 Partner Centres

Each serves 500,000 – 1 mn population

148 Primary Eye Care Centres**

Each serves 50,000 population

Vision Health Guardians

Serves 5,000 population

* Secondary Centres

** Vision Centres

5

The Year at a Glance
(April 2016 to March 2017)

Research

260 Publica�ons
243 Presenta�ons

2,552,444 Eye Bank 148 Awards &

people served 9494 donor Honours

corneas harvested

532 5 corneal transplants*

Vision Educa�on
Rehabilita�on
530 trained
12,622 visually 2381 people

impaired clients par�cipated in
served *CMEs and other programs

*Con�nuing Medical Educa�on For more details, refer page no 25
*3011 corneal transplants within the LVPEI network and 2314 outside the LVPEI network

30 Years of Excellence
(1987 to March 2017)
Served over 23.8 million people

50%+ services provided free of cost, regardless of complexity

11.68 million outpa�ents treated 424 SLET* procedures
1.22 million surgeries performed
0.16 million rehabilitated 6000 villages provided with direct
69,084 donor corneas harvested services through secondary
34,096 donor corneas transplanted and primary care
1028 stem cell based procedures
170 centres

19,497 Indian and foreign eye care
professionals trained
2023 research papers published

43 PhDs awarded

*SLET - Simple Limbal Epithelial Transplantation 7

Impact Created - 30 Years

National

Helped upgrade eye care centres in 18 states in India
Played a key role in forming the Eye Bank Association of India and in developing

the manual for Indian Eye Banking Medical Standards
Publication of the 'Indian Journal of Ophthalmology' for 12 years
Established the Indian Eye Research Group, now a chapter of Association for

Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Helped develop and standardise medical education curricula
Govt of India adopted LVPEI’s Vision Centre and Eye Health Pyramid models
Initiated founding of VISION 2020 India

International

 A World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for the prevention of blindness and a pioneer in developing eye
health models for underserved areas of the developing world

 Member of Commonwealth Eye Health Consortium
 Secretariat of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB)
 International Centre for Eye Care Education
 International Association of Contact Lens Educators
 High quality eye care model programs for Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
 Resource Centre for International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and Operation Eyesight Universal
 Helped upgrade eye care centres in 12 countries
 Continues to be a world leader in eye banking and corneal transplantations
 Training of eye care professionals from many countries

8 Annual Report 2016 - 2017

First ever complex ophthalmic Highlights of the Year Allahadini Mishra Zebra-Fish
plastic surgery performed at Research Facility inaugurated
secondary centre in Mudhole, at MTC campus
Telangana

Visakhapatnam campus LVPEI Bhubaneswar
gets NABH accreditation named as Mithu Tulsi
Chanrai (MTC) campus
Indian Oil Centre for
Rural Eye Health *Eye donation New world record
inaugurated at fortnight observed set - 2043 corneal
Bhubaneswar campus transplants performed
Partial corneal transplant in a single year
surgery DSEK performed
at secondary centre in
Nellore, AP

April - 2016 May - 2016 June - 2016 July - 2016 August - 2016 Sept - 2016 Oct - 2016 Nov - 2016 Dec - 2016 Jan - 2017 Feb - 2017 Mar - 2017

Squint surgery
performed at
secondary centre in
Thoodukurthy
Akkineni Srujana Center for
Manoharamma Corneal transplant Innovation inaugurated The Govindram Seksaria Institute for Vision Gebauer Refractive
Chemotherapy surgery performed at new facility in Institute of Dacryology Rehabilitation Surgery Outpatient Service
Unit inaugurated at secondary centre Hyderabad campus inaugurated at Hyderabad inaugurated inaugurated at Hyderabad
at Hyderabad in Mudhole - the Innovative surgery - campus campus
campus first in Telangana *SLET performed at
secondary centre in Microsoft, LVPEI and Global
Ramayamma International Paloncha,Telangana Experts collaborate to launch
MINE (Microsoft Intelligent
Eye Bank (RIEB) crossed Network for Eyecare)
the 30,000 mark in the
distribution of corneal Kapileswarapuram
tissues Vision Centre upgraded
as Secondary Centre
LVPEI hosts
WHO meetings
 16 Vision Centres inaugurated at Telangana and Andhra Pradesh through the year
 Teleophthalmic slit lamps installed at seven locations including secondary and vision centres

*Eye Donation Fortnight - 25 August to 8 September *SLET - Simple Limbal Epithelial Transplantation

LVPEI Linkages 2016 - 2017 National

Eye Banking
Education
Innovation
Capacity Building & Consultancy
Vision Rehabilitation
Research
International Patient

Note for Patient Care:
National - We get patients from all the States across India
International - As shown in the map; refer legend

10

International

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 11

Awards & Honours

Srujana Center for Innovation: (a) Folding phoropter awarded $50,000 second
prize Clearly Vision, London (b) Open Indirect Ophthalmoscope, shortlisted
finalist, Hackaday Prize; won $2000 in ‘automation’ category (c) Pediatric
Perimeter among top 17 innovations in Medical Science and Biotechnology,
displayed at ‘Festival of Innovation’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi.

Ramayamma International Eye Bank (RIEB) won Excellence in Eye Banking, and
3000 Transplants Club awards, SightLife Annual Meeting.

Best Hospital for Ophthalmology for LVPEI, in three categories - National, 9th CIDC Vishwakarma Award to Velamati Soubhagyavathamma Building in ‘Best
Regional (South) and Hyderabad, Times of India ‘All India Lifestyle Hospital Project’ category, Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC). 
and Clinic Ranking Survey 2016’.
12 Annual Report 2016 - 2017

Uday Addepalli • Pioneering work in stem • Member, International Retina Navya Deepthi
• Postgraduate Student Scholarship cell research, international Panel • Best oral presentation (student
documentary ‘Sight: The Story of
Travel Grant and Runner-up, Vision’ • Honorary Secretary, Hyderabad category), Dr E Vaithilingam
amateur photography, IAPB Retina Society memorial conference, Sankara
• Winning Entry, UNSW Optometry • Young Achiever award, Vidarbha Nethralaya
and Vision Science - photo and Ophthalmic Society Anthony Vipin Das •  Young Optometry Researcher
video • Microsoft Azure Research Award Rolling Trophy, India Vision
Mohammad Javed Ali Nandini Bothra • Director, Microsoft Intelligent Institute 
• Editorial Board, Graefe’s Archive • Best Poster, 75th AIOS Gousia Faraha
for Clinical and Experimental Subhabrata Chakrabarti Network for Eyecare (MINE) • Travel grant, Dr E Vaithilingam
Ophthalmology • Global Mentor, ARVO Shilpa Das memorial conference, Sankara
• Rhinocon Keynote Medal, 29th All • Member, Professional • Two best poster awards, AAO Nethralaya
India Rhinology Society Taraprasad Das Prashant Garg
• International Ophthalmic Hero Development & Education • Regional Chair, South East Asia, • Member, Global Advisor
Award, AIOS Committee, ARVO Committee, AAO
Ramam Atmakuri • Ex Officio Member, International IAPB • Invited author, AAO, ‘Focal Points
• Co-Convenor, CSR panel, Chapter Affiliate Committee, ARVO • Editorial Board, Ophthalmic Module’ on Parasitic Keratitis
Confederation of Indian Industry • Co-Chair, Associate Advisory • Editorial Board, EuCornea Journal
(CII) Telangana Board, World Glaucoma Research Naresh Gattu
• Board Member, Project Association • WHO Consultancy, Diabetic • 3 honourable mentions, 1st and 3rd
Management Institute India • Program Committee Member, prize, Ophthalmic Photographers’
Bhupesh Bagga World Glaucoma Congress, Retinopathy Society Exhibit, ASCRS-ASOA
• Runner-up, Keracon film challenge, Helsinki • Associate Editor, Asia Pacific Annual Symposium & Congress
Cornea Society of India • Scientific Session Organizer and Shweta Gupta
D Balasubramanian Chair, International Society for Eye Journal of Ophthalmology • Travel Grant, Centre for
• Visiting fellow, Institute for Research, Tokyo • William J Holmes Lecture, APAO International Co-operation in
Advanced Study, Stellenbosch • Lead speaker, Thermofisher • Member, APAO Council Science (CICS) for 32nd APAO
University, South Africa Genetics Solutions World Tour • Chair, Ethics Committee, Indian Congress
• Lifetime achievement award, Symposium K Hariharan
Indian Peptide Society • Chancellor’s nominee, Dr MGR institute of Public Health • Eye banking Leader of the Year,
• Institute Fellow award, Indian Medical University, Tamil Nadu • TNC Vedantham Memorial Oration SightLife Annual Meeting
Institute of Technology (IIT), • Executive Committee, Indian Subhadra Jalali
Kanpur Society of Human Genetics Lecture • Member, ROP Care Team,
Shrikant Bharadwaj Jay Kumar Chhablani • G Venkataswamy Oration Ministry of Health, Bangladesh,
• Member, Core committee for • First Dr Ian Constable Lecture, in collaborating with Orbis
defining curriculum of vision/ APVRS Lecture, Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic International
ophthalmic technicians, Ministry • Achievement Award, American Association • Achievement Award, APAO
of Health and Family Welfare, Govt AAO • Member, Advisory Board - • First Prof Syedur Rahman
of India. • Committee Member, AAO Global Ophthalmology, 13th Five Year Plan, Memorial Oration, Bangladesh
Sayan Basu ONE Network Govt of India Vitreoretina Society
• Achievement Award, AAO • ‘Best of Show’ video award, Sourav Datta • Adjunct Associate Professor of
• Adjunct Associate Professor of EURETINA, Copenhagen • Best oral presentation, Dr E Ophthalmology, URMC
Ophthalmology, URMC • Yasuo Tano Travel Grant, APAO Vaithilingam Memorial Conference • R P Tandon oration, Mid-
• Faculty, ASRS Symposium Tarjani Dave term conference, Jharkhand
• Adjunct Associate Professor of • Best poster presentation in
Ophthalmology, URMC Oculoplasty and video selection in
Top 15, 75th AIOS
Vivek Dave
• Adjunct Associate Professor of
Ophthalmology, URMC
• JM Pahwa Award, best free paper,
Vitreo-Retinal Society – India

13

Ophthalmological Society and Ramesh Kekunnaya Ashik Mohamed Tapas Ranjan Padhi
Bihar Ophthalmological Society • Honour Award, AAPOS • CSIC for Development (iCOOP) • Member, ROP Care Team,
• Founder Member, Indian ROP • Best Paper, 42nd annual meeting,
Society Fellow, Visual Optics and Ministry of Health, Bangladesh,
• Mother Teresa award, Hyderabad AAPOS Biophotonics Lab, Instituto de in collaborating with Orbis
Women Empowerment Group • Member Faculty, Strabismus & Óptica “Daza de Valdés”, Consejo International
Joveeta Joseph Superior de Investigaciones • Program In-charge, Queen
• Young Scientist award, Telangana Pediatric Ophthalmology section, Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust
Academy of Sciences F1000Prime Sujoy Mukherjee (QEDJT), Supported program on
Praveen Joseph S • Associate Editor, Pediatric • 2 Honourable Mentions, ROP at Odisha
• Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Ophthalmology and Strabismus photography contest, primary care Bhavik Panchal
Fellowship section, BMC Ophthalmology section, American Academy of • Travel grant, Science and
• Young Scientist Award, K V Rao • Annual Program Committee, AAO Optometry Engineering Research Board, for
Scientific Society • Low Vision and Rehabilitation Milind Naik 32nd APAO Congress
• Best Poster, ARVO India Chapter committee, AAPOS • Executive Committee, APSOPRS Rajeev Reddy Pappuru
meeting • Marylin Miller Lecture, • Editorial Board, Journal of • Honour Award, ASRS
Meha Kabra Ophthalmological Society of Aesthetic Cutaneous Surgery and P K Sai Prakash
• Young Scientist Award, Indian Nigeria Indian Journal of Ophthalmology • Eminent Educationist Award, Indo-
Society of Human Genetics • Achievement Award, APAO Raja Narayanan American Education Summit, The
• Best Poster, ARVO India Chapter • Best Video Gold Medal, Joint • Advisory Board, Management of Indus Foundation
meeting meeting, AAPOS - Strabismus and Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy Divya Rao
Swathi Kaliki Pediatric Ophthalmological Society • Faculty, Duke University, Retina • Best Poster, Glaucoma Society of
• Associate Editor, Oncology section, of India Grand Rounds India conference
BMC Ophthalmology Rohit Khanna • Council member, APAO Muralidhar Ramappa
• Adjunct Assistant Professor of • Leading international expert • Honorary Secretary, VRSI • Best Free Paper, Best Poster and
Ophthalmology, URMC at WHO to discuss cataract • Editorial Board, Indian Journal of Top 15 research paper, AAO
• Crossed 100 publications on management strategies Ophthalmology • Adjunct Associate Professor of
PubMed Preetam Kumar • Faculty, Indian School of Business Ophthalmology, URMC
• Best paper, P Ramchander • Best Poster presentation, Dr E (ISB) • International Ophthalmic Hero
competitive free paper session, Vaithilingam Memorial Conference • Adjunct Professor, School of Award, AIOS
TOS Mayank Mahajan Medicine and Dentistry, URMC • Best Poster Award, TOS
• Best Paper, Inflammation session, • Best Comprehensive Goni Neelaveni Padmaja Kumari Rani
75th AIOC Ophthalmology Fellow of the Year • Best Special Educator, Lioness Club • Member, ROP Care Team,
Aditya Kapoor - Village Vision Complex Network, of Hyderabad Ministry of Health, Bangladesh,
• C S Reshmi Best Video Session, LVPEI Vinay Kumar N in collaborating with Orbis
AIOS Srinivas Marmamula • Best poster award, ARVO India International
Twinkle Katyal • Featured in the 40th anniversary Chapter Meeting Rajkishori Rana
• Travel grant, Dr E Vaithilingam publication of the British Council Krushna Gopal Panda • Narsing Rao best free paper award,
memorial conference, Sankara for Prevention of Blindness report • Grand Prize, 2nd Runner-up, and Uveitis Society of India’s annual
Nethralaya • Delivered the prestigious ‘The Rich Honorable Mention, photography meeting
Inderjeet Kaur Lecture’, University of Alabama, contest, primary care section, Gullapalli N Rao
• Treasurer, Indian Society of Human Birmingham American Academy of Optometry • 2017 Ophthalmology Hall of Fame,
Genetics • ALO (Alumni of LVPEI ASCRS.
Optometrists) Alumnus of the Year
Award

14 Annual Report 2016 - 2017

Suryasnata Rath Ophthalmology and Strabismus, in India, Department of Science Pravin Vaddavalli
• Best paper Ocular Pathology, 75th BMC Ophthalmology and Technology • Chairman, Scientific Committee, TOS
• Reviewer, British Journal • Sun Pharma Research Award • Executive Committee, Cornea
AIOC of Ophthalmology, BMC 2015 – Medical Sciences & Clinical
Jagadesh C Reddy Ophthalmology, Indian Journal Research Society of India
• Adjunct Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Archives of Savitri Sharma Jachin D Williams
Medicine and Health Sciences • Fellow, Telangana Academy of • Eye Health Hero award, IAPB
of Ophthalmology, School of • Expert panel, Neuro- Sciences
Medicine and Dentistry, URMC ophthalmology Free papers for S Shivaji
Mamatha Reddy AIOC • Prof Biswambhar Rajguru Oration,
• Innovative Young Biotechnologist Virender S Sangwan Odisha State Ophthalmological
Award, Department of • 2 Best Posters, AAO Society
Biotechnology, Govt of India • Oration, Indian Society of Cornea • Polar Science & Cryosphere award,
Sanhita Roy and Keratorefractive Surgeons Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of
• Member, Indian National Young conference India
Academy of Science • Rustom Ranji Oration, TOS Mudit Tyagi
Virender Sachdeva • Ranked 4th - Medical Researchers • Honour Award, ASRS
• Associate Editor, Pediatric

Alumni Awards

K V Ravi Kumar: (a) Runner-up best video, Intraocular Implant & Sushmita Shah: Video award, XI International Congress on Advances in
Refractive Society (b) Dr K Vengal Rao best paper, Swaroop best video, Ophthalmology, EyeAdvance 2016
best of APOS, A P State Ophthalmic Conference Preeji Sudharman: 2016 William C Ezell Fellowship, American Optometric
Vivek Labhishetty: Dr Emerson Woodruff Scholarship in Paediatrics Foundation

Note: International Awards National Awards

Abbreviations

AAO - American Academy of APVRS - Asia-Pacific Vitreo-retina Society IAPB - International Agency for the
Ophthalmology ARVO - Association for Research in Vision TOS Prevention of Blindness
ASCRS UNSW
AAPOS - American Association for Pediatric ASOA and Ophthalmology URMC - Telangana Ophthalmic Society
Ophthalmology & Strabismus ASRS - American Society of Cataract and VRSI - University of New South Wales
WHO - University of Rochester Medical
AIOS - All India Ophthalmological Society Refractive Surgery
APAO - Asia Pacific Academy of - American Society of Ophthalmic Center
- Vitreo Retina Society of India
Ophthalmology Administrators - World Health Organization
APSOPRS - Asia Pacific Society of Ophthalmic - American Society of Retina

Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Specialists

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 15

Kallam Anji Reddy Campus

We completed a little more than a year allows us to devote personalized attention
of patient care services at the Velamati to our patients in a time efficient manner.
Soubhagyavathamma building. The Specialized surgeries such as Simple
enhanced infrastructure is enabling us Limbal Epithelial Transplant, advanced
to provide care to greater numbers - Retinopathy of Prematurity, Refractory
365,000 patients in the outpatient and Congenital Glaucoma, Navigation Guided
57,000 surgeries, a growth of about 25% Orbital Surgery, etc ensure that we are
compared to last year. The potential at the leading edge of technology in
slowing down due to the use of electronic providing quaternary level care to the most
medical records is almost overcome and complex problems. We are proud of our
the average waiting times have reduced dedicated team of doctors, optometrists,
despite the increased numbers. We are nursing and support staff who work with
thankful to all our donors who supported compassion and commitment to make us
us in this transition. truly “Patient Centric”. Our commitment
The state-of-the-art technology and to offer care - however complex - to all
dedicated facility for femtosecond our patients, irrespective of their ability to
cataract and refractive surgery services pay, is what sustains our mission ‘So that
all may see’.

G Chandra Sekhar

Vice Chair,

Director,

Kallam Anji Reddy Campus, Hyderabad

Annual Report 2016 - 2017
16

Ms Arundhati Bhattacharya Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare Highlights
Gebauer Refractive Surgery Outpatient Service
Microsoft India, in collaboration with LVPEI, launched Microsoft Intelligent
Senior delegation from UNSW Network for Eye care (MINE). This is a mission-driven global consortium
of like-minded commercial, research and academic institutions to apply
artificial intelligence for the elimination of avoidable blindness and scale
delivery of eyecare services worldwide. The partner organizations of
this consortium include Bascom Palmer - University of Miami, Flaum Eye
Institute - University of Rochester (USA), Federal University of Sao Paulo
(Brazil) and Brien Holden Vision Institute (Australia).
State Bank of India (SBI) has supported LVPEI with ophthalmic equipment for
non-paying patients. Ms Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI, unveiled a
plaque on the occasion.
Gebauer Refractive Surgery Outpatient Service was inaugurated by Mr
Steffen Gebauer, Managing Director, Gebauer Medizintechnik GmbH,
Neuhausen, Germany.
LVPEI signed an MOU with Zynergy, a solar solutions company from Chennai,
for installing 220 KW solar power plants across the network.
Rotary ClubofHyderabadfundedophthalmologyequipmentfortheglaucoma
outpatient clinic.

Eminent visitors:
Professor Ian Jacobs, President and Vice Chancellor, and a senior
delegation from UNSW (University of New South Wales).
Professor Brian Cantor, Vice-Chancellor, University of Bradford, along with
a senior delegation comprising Prof Stephen Rimmer and Mark Garratt.
Suzannah Jessep, Deputy High Commissioner for New Zealand.
Mr Y S Choudary, Minister of State, Science and Technology & Earth
Sciences

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 17

Suzannah Jessep Rotary Club of Hyderabad

,

Mithu Tulsi Chanrai Campus

Last year witnessed a spurt in growth, The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee
thanks to the tremendous support from Trust grant is helping create an effective
philanthropists and the community Diabetic Retinopathy care model in a
at large. While we served 128,970 district, and Retinopathy of Prematurity
outpatients (24% free) and operated model in 5 districts. At the other end,
15,133 patients (44% free), support came 160,000 school children were screened in
in from various organizations, notably an ambitious project in Rayagada district.
Mission for Vision, Indian Oil Corporation, Professor Deepak Edward from the Johns
Dalmia Holdings, and the family of Mr Hopkins University spent a week as
Jayabardhan Mishra. This helped increase Visiting faculty teaching glaucoma and
patient care capacity with additional eye pathology. Our colleague Srikant Sahu
outpatient and surgery rooms, Amblyopia returned from the Schepens Eye Research
clinic for children, Newborn Eye Health Institute, Boston after a year of enriching
Alliance (NEHA), Centre for Rural Eye his experience, which will benefit the
Health (CREH) and Zebra Fish Laboratory institute in a significant way. We welcome
for translational research. The campus a new year with new possibilities.
was named after Shri Mithu Tulsi Chanrai
in recognition of the support extended by
the Chanrai family.

Sujata Das

Campus Director,

Mithu Tulsi Chanrai Campus

Mithu Tulsi Chanrai Campus

Allahadini Mishra Zebra-Fish Research Facility Newborn Eye Health Alliance Highlights

LVPEI Bhubaneswar’s 11th anniversary on 16 January 2017 saw its renaming as
Mithu Tulsi Chanrai campus, named after the father of Shri Jagdish Chanrai
of Mission for Vision. Other dignitaries who graced the occasion included
Shri Subroto Bagchi, Chairman - Skill Development Council, Government
of Odisha; Smt Chanrai and senior officials from Mission for Vision - Ms
Elizabeth Kurian, Mr Steve Oronsaye, Dr Prakash Mirchandani, Major D K
Zarekar, Ms Cynthia D’Souza and Mr Mani Subramonian.
Allahadini Mishra Zebra-Fish Research Facility the new facility that was
inaugurated, will significantly contribute to the research activities at the
campus.
The Abha Dalmia Newborn Eye Health Alliance (NEHA) was inaugurated by
Smt Abha Dalmia and Shri M H Dalmia, former President of OCL India Ltd.
LVPEI Bhubaneswar is the only Centre in Odisha providing Pediatric retinal
imaging, neonatal intensive care facilities, in addition to ROP care, and NEHA
will further enhance these capabilities and reach in Odisha.
A highly interactive workshop on ‘Standard Protocols for Operation Theatres
(SPOT)’ was conducted at Indian Oil Centre for Rural Eye Health.
A series of eye care awareness talks were organzied throughout the year for
school going children, health professionals and other stakeholders.

Eye Care Awareness Talks

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 19

GMR Varalakshmi Campus

July 7 2016 marked 10 years of the outpatient and performed over 80,000
establishment of GMR Varalakshmi surgeries, 50% of them at no cost to the
campus in Visakhapatnam. patient.

A little more than a decade ago, two young Team GMRV has since crossed many
gentlemen Mr O Naresh and Mr Appala milestones, ranging from establishing
Raju had met our chairman Dr Rao about vision centres in far flung areas, to
the need for a tertiary facility to serve reinvigorating Mohsin Eye Bank’s hospital
north coastal Andhra Pradesh. Thanks to cornea retrieval program. The Aurobindo
their perseverance, 5 acres of land was Geriatric Eye care centre, the first centre
allotted in the Health City. Operation dedicated to eye care for the elderly,
Eyesight Universal came forward with completed a year. Aurobindo Pharma
a generous grant besides contributions gave a fillip to the venture with support
from Mr O Naresh and his friends. The to a new operating complex dedicated to
foundation stone was laid on May 26, geriatric patients.
2005 and by July 7, 2006, patient care We look forward to the next decade with
commenced. Over the past decade, we renewed vigor and great anticipation.
have served over 750,000 patients in the

Merle Fernandes

Director,
G M R Varalakshmi Campus, Visakhapatnam

Decennial Celebrations Highlights

NABH Accreditation Multi Purpose Health Assistants Decennial Celebrations: A CD titled “Clinical Pearls in Opthalmology” was
World Diabetes Day released by Dr V Raghunathan, Chief Executive Officer of GMR Varalakshmi
Foundation and chief guest for the day.
Mr O Naresh, CEO, Symbiosys Technologies was the guest of honour.

Granted accreditation by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and
Healthcare Providers (NABH).
An educational campus tour program was organized for a group of people
working as Multi Purpose Health Assistants at various government hospitals
in Visakhapatnam.
To mark the World Diabetes Day, a patient education forum, highlighting
the importance of a good diet for prevention against diabetes, and an
awareness walk were organized.
Several eye screening programs were organized, one of them being at
Harmony Foods Pvt Ltd.
Personality Development Session for the Patient Counseling Staff in
collaboration with ‘Junior Chamber International (JCI)” was organized.

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 21

Eye Screening Program

Kode Venkatadri
Chowdary Campus

With the capital city of Andhra Pradesh city. The weekly interdisciplinary clinic for
coming up in nearby Amaravathi, intervention strategies for children with
Vijayawada is a hub of activities. So is cerebral visual impairment has a pediatric
Kode Venkatadri Chowdary campus, the ophthalmologist, vision rehabilitation
institute’s youngest tertiary centre, with specialist, physiotherapist and speech
several new initiatives this year. therapist working together.
The addition of 5 neonatal intensive care The Tej Kohli Eye Bank began operations
units (NICUs) to our NICU based retinopathy and collected 71 corneas of which 51 were
of prematurity (ROP) screening program distributed for transplantation. Very soon,
will help mitigate childhood blindness the eye bank will be housed in a state-of-
due to ROP in this region. The Ocularistry the-art facility. Also commenced was a
service for cosmetic rehabilitation of Fellowship in Comprehensive Optometry –
individuals with their eyeball either a new program that links Optometry with
absent or lost in shape, will minimize the Community Eye Health.
psychological trauma of disfigurement of This year, we also welcome Dr Siva Kumar
face. Wurity (Anterior segment service) and Dr
The Ocular Oncology service is supported Santhipriya (Glaucoma service), and wish
by colleagues in medical and radiation them a very productive career.
oncology affiliated to other centres in the

Prashant Garg

Director,

Kode Venkatadri Chowdary Campus, Vijayawada

6th Anniversary Celebrations Ocularistry Services Highlights
Eye Screening Program
6th anniversary celebrations on 16 February 2017.
The Ocularistry (customised ocular prosthesis) services at the campus
commenced on 27 August 2016. The first patient receiving a prosthetic eye
was a 29 year old gentleman from Vijayawada. Diagnosed with eye tumour,
his left eye was removed, to stop the tumour from spreading to other parts
of his body. To restore the cosmetic appeal of his face, a prosthetic eye was
made for him.
The campus is contributing towards the education of ophthalmic residents
by initiating residents ECHO (Extension of Community Healthcare Outcomes)
clinics twice a month, and by the visits made by the campus faculty as guest
faculty at the Guntur medical college. This is in addition to the existing
rotation program where the residents of Mamta medical college, Khamam
come for observership to the campus.
In collaboration with DEEP Foundation Vijayawada, a series of eye screening
programs for the Vijayawada police personnel and their family members
were organized, starting from 11 April 2016.

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 23

Patient Care Services

‘Patient First’ and ‘Equity’ are two of the and performs 400 surgeries (distributed
five values we practice in the institute. 28% in Secondary centres, 32% in Tertiary
The care extends across a remote village Centres, and 40% in Quaternary Centre)
through a Vision Centre manned by a through a network of 148 Vision Centres,
trained technician, to cities through our 2 City Centres, 16 Secondary Centres,
tertiary and quaternary centres that offer 3 Tertiary Centres, and 1 Quaternary
an entire range of medical and surgical Centre. Connected by smart electronic
eye care. Appropriate care and affordable medical record (EMR) the patient care is
for the location, the LVPEI service extends seamlessly connected.
from a simple prescription of spectacles Each of our larger centres at Hyderabad,
at a village to the most complex eye Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and
problem in the city. The institute believes Vijayawada have all the necessary ancillary
in providing quality assured, evidence support, be it general anaesthesia or
based, and comprehensive eye care laboratories (pathology, microbiology,
round the year as close as possible at the clinical biochemistry). The other unique
doorstep of people. Manned by the most signature of LVPEI is the integrated low
able health care personnel, in a given day vision and rehabilitation services meeting
LVPEI examines at least 4500 outpatients the patient demand. Each of these centres
(distributed at 21% in Vision Centres, is also a physical beauty surrounded by as
24% in Secondary centres, 26% in Tertiary much greenery as possible and as much
centres, and 29% in Quaternary Centre) green energy as available.

Taraprasad Das

Vice Chair,

Patient Care Policy

Total Population Reached

2,552,444

47.16% 52.84%
Male Female

Outpatient Surgical
Visits Procedures

1,302,422 133,932
49.27% 50.73% 50.1% 49.9%

641,733 1,116,090
660,689
67,063 people screened
66,869 through various
community eye health
initiatives (at no cost)

Paying Non-Paying Paying Non-Paying

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 25

Eye Care Services Across the Campuses

Outpatient Visits Surgical Procedures

Paying Non-Paying Paying Non-Paying

388,351Kallam Anji Reddy Campus, Hyderabad - Total 57,286Kallam Anji Reddy Campus, Hyderabad - Total
269,271 33,807
119,080 23,479

128,970Mithu Tulsi Chanrai Campus, Bhubaneswar - Total 18,345Mithu Tulsi Chanrai Campus, Bhubaneswar - Total
98,543 11,455
30,427 6890

103,512GMR Varalakshmi Campus, Visakhapatnam - Total 13,700GMR Varalakshmi Campus, Visakhapatnam - Total
73,690 7684
29,822 6016

83,766Kode Venkatadri Chowdary Campus, Vijayawada - Total 12,348Kode Venkatadri Chowdary Campus, Vijayawada - Total
53,329 5546
30,437 6802

Analysis of Surgical Procedures

29% Retina and Vitreous 7% Ophthalmic
Plastic Surgery
4% Cornea and
Anterior Segment
5% LASIK
2% Glaucoma
3% Squint
34% Cataract 2% International Patients
15% Corneal Transplants 2030
Others

LVPEI continues to be the world leader in corneal transplants

Rural Eye Health

Outpatient Visits Surgical Procedures

597,823 32,253

50.3% 49.7% 100%

146,900 1(R6urSael cEoyenHdoasrpyitCaelsn) 3tr2es253
145,649
0 8571
305,274
26.6%
73.4%
23,682

16 Secondary Centres 148 Vision Centres (Primary

(Rural Eye Hospitals) Eye Care Centres)

292,549 305,274

Paying Non-Paying

Community Eye Care

6000 Total villages covered

Population reached through Population reached through various 18 Total districts covered
community screening children's eye health initiatives

380,651 735,439

27

Children's Eye Care Services

Outpatient Visits 932,920 Children Reached
180,599
Surgical Procedures Analysis of Surgical Procedures
16,882
Tertiary11and7,Advanced807 Tertiary (4) 9% Oculoplasty 5% Cornea and
28
Total 13,063 27,510 22% Retinal, Anterior Segment

82,483 VitreoRetinal 1% Refractive
38221
Surgery

Secondary18,Centres400 (16) Vision Centres (148) 2% Glaucoma
9% Strabismus
Total Total 27,510
19% Cataract 2% Corneal
5337 0
Transplants

Tertiary16and,8Advanced41 Tertiary (4) Paying 29% Others
Non-Paying
Total Community Eye
ROP Health Initiatives
8244 Retinopathy�o��Prematurity
8597 700,015
4Sc3ree3ne5d 518Laser Sessions
Secondary41 Centres (16) (early stage) School screening
�denti�ed
Total Surgeries 35,424
1317
28 354 (advanced stage) Anganwadi screening
13

Patient Testimonials

"I brought my father V Rama Murthy for surgery and this was my first visit to LVPEI, the world renowned eye care institute. I
visited a couple of times and every time my experience was top notch. The facility is clean, organized and I truly had a 'Wow'
experience.”

Satish Vadlamani
“Millions of thanks to the doctors, staff and management of L V Prasad Eye Institute for restoring vision for those who have
lost it! Many needy people with eye problems are able to see because of LVPEI. Your services are invaluable. I wish that LVPEI
reaches many more rural areas through its services.”

Pirangi Sailu
"I heard a lot about LVPEI, and for the first time, went there to consult. The staff is very cooperative and understand well.
Though the time taken for consultation was long, it was satisfactory. Cafeteria was spick and span and service was good. Well
maintained stairs and walkways. You will never feel that you've been to hospital. The most interesting part is the greenery and
rocks in the building - they will blow your mind."

Omkarnadh Sanka
"I am an agricultural labourer from Santhapalem village, Kothavalasa mandal, Vizianagaram district. My son, Malluvalasa
Pavan Kumar, had black spots in his eyes since the age of two, and his eyelashes were so small that he could not open his
eyes easily. He underwent a series of surgeries at LVPEI Visakhapatnam and can now see and is even going to school. We are
amazed with the results of the surgery and the timely treatment given completely free of cost to someone from a remote
village like ours."

Gopati Sundar Rao

Patients from across India and the world trust LVPEI

29

Vision Rehabilitation

Initiated in 1992, the vision rehabilitation state was an important milestone
services at the institute have now scaled achieved in this year. Low vision and
up significantly and have touched the lives rehabilitation units have been integrated
of 0.16 million people by helping them into 13 Secondary Centres in the state of
achieve their full potential despite visual Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh
impairment. and Odisha. In addition to the centre-
The academic excellence of our students based services, the secondary centres will
who received educational assistance in also provide home-based training to the
the pursuit of their 10th and 12th grades, needy visually impaired.
has been extremely gratifying. We are also The 2016 year-end marked a new
delighted with the achievements of our beginning for us with the formal inaugural
young adult clients who were provided of ‘Institute for Vision Rehabilitation’
assistive computer training and are now by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO
working in reputed IT and retail industries, Regional Director for South East Asia.
and leading a dignified life. Becoming a centre of excellence for
Completion of the 3 year long Community vision rehabilitation service delivery, our
Based Rehabilitation program supported focus now is to position ourselves both
by Sight First - Lions Clubs International nationally and globally as a resource
Foundation in Adilabad District, Telangana centre for education, training, advocacy
and research.

Beula Christy

Head of Services

Institute for Vision Rehabilitation

Institute for Vision Rehabilitation Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South East Asia, formally inaugurated LVPEI’s ‘Institute for Vision Rehabilitation’ at Kallam Anji
Reddy Campus, Hyderabad.

Community Based Rehabilitation

The 3 year long Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR)
program supported by Sight First - Lions Clubs International
Foundation in Adilabad was successfully completed on 31
July 2016. A first of its kind project, it integrated low vision
and early intervention through CBR. The key highlights of
the project that covered a population of 8,03,028 across
772 mandals and 18 villages are:-
• 1733 persons rehabilitated - including blind, low vision

and persons with additional disabilities
• 395 aids and appliances distributed - including Low

vision devices, wheel chair, calibers, cane, educational
and early intervention material etc.
• 685 school screening and community screening
programs organized
• 230 awareness programs organized
• 41 people provided economic rehabilitation

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 31

Glimpses of the activities across the network

Expansion of vision rehabilitation services in 13 Job based vocational training workshops Soft Skills training for students with visual
secondary eye care centres impairment

The integrated fun camps organized across the campuses provide rich learning experiences Clients can now experience the three famous monument of India
to kids with visual impairment through a variety of sports, games, talent shows, and group - India Gate, Taj Mahal and Charminar through the tactile and
play experiences, which otherwise is restricted in their routine life. audio painting installed at the institute’s Hyderabad campus.

Volunteer meets were organized to thank the volunteers for The biannual Low Vision Awareness Programs
the services rendered (LAP) create awareness among ophthalmologists,
32 Annual Report 2016 - 2017 optometrists, rehabilitation professionals, special
educators, optometry students, opticians, vision
technicians, ophthalmic technicians and administrators
working in eye care organization on management of
low vision. The 35th, 36th and 37th LAP were organized
this year.

Clients Scale New Heights Shravya Kanithi Suribhi Mudgal

• Shravya Kanithi, has aced her GMAT examination and has secured admission at 8171 clients
Indian School of Business (ISB) for an eighteen month management programme,
2019-2020. availed low vision
services
• Suribhi Mudgal, was the fist runner-up at the recently concluded beauty pageant
contest in Mumbai, exclusively for people with visual impairment. Present as
judges were John Abraham, Subash Ghai and Javed Ali.

• Several other client students from the institute have passed their 10th and 12th
grades with flying colours.

Touching Lives, Rehabilatating Lives

12,662 Clients served 31,642 assisted

5740 New through support

6922 Follow up services such as

Braille, large prints

and audio books

2533 provided with 3667 supported 945 received

skill based training through early community based
intervention services rehabilitation services

2266 queries addressed through HelpLine exclusively for the visually impaired Annual Report 2016 - 2017

33

Eye Banking

2016 was a fruitful year for eye banking handling operations of Mohsin Eye Bank.
activities in all aspects - tissue harvesting, In the first year of this collaboration the
distribution and expansion of activities in eye bank achieved a record growth of
the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh 110% in tissue harvesting and 280% in
and Odisha. tissue utilization. The Tej Kohli Eye Bank
The Ramayamma International Eye Bank of Vijayawada started its operations,
(RIEB), Hyderabad - a unit of Tej Kohli collecting 227 corneas and distributing
Cornea Institute (TKCI) - moved into a new, 127 for transplantation in the very first
renovated and expanded location with seven months. Soon, the eye bank will be
state of the art infrastructure including housed in a dedicated premises equipped
a laboratory for the preparation of pre- to meet the standards of a Centre of
cut tissues. The new facility can handle Excellence.
10,000 corneal tissues, a goal set for the New records in operations and recognition
year 2020. for our team members marked the year,
Another milestone was the initiation the most important being collecting 7167
of the “Andhra Pradesh Eye Banking corneas and supplying 3810 corneas for
initiatives” in that state. Vebart Trust of transplantation.
Visakhapatnam joined hands with TKCI for Nothing is impossible, if we have the will.

Prashant Garg

Head,

Eye Banking Services

2000+ New Record Set
In the year 2016-17, RIEB collected 7167 corneas and distributed 3810 corneas for transplants to surgeons
Ramayamma International Eye Bank (RIEB)
across the country. These numbers are the largest by any single eye bank in the country. LVPEI created yet
another piece of history in the field of corneal transplantation with its Hyderabad campus becoming the first ever

in the world to perform 2043 corneal transplants in a single year. This is a record for the highest ever corneal

transplant surgeries from a single centre, anywhere in the world.

Product Development 33,874 vials of the MK 2631 pieces of AM
medium produced produced
RIEB uses McCarey-Kaufman (MK)
Medium, which is specially developed 32,179 vials supplied to Eye Banks 1362 distributed within the LVPEI
200 National Eye Banks network
at LVPEI as a cost effective product for
the preservation and storage of corneas 3 International Eye Banks - 200 used for in-house training and
for up to four days. The eye bank also Bangladesh, Nepal and research
Myanmar
produces Amniotic Membranes 1222 distributed to surgeons
(AM) for ocular surface reconstructive outside LVPEI

surgeries.

Training in Eye Partner Eye Donation Centres
Banking

RIEB offers certificate courses to different A total of 2607 donor corneas were
cadres of eye bank personnel from India collected from 35 centres that are part of
and other countries. Refresher courses in
the latest advancements and techniques in RIEB’s Network affiliates.
eye banking are also organized. Detailed list on page 31

23 technicians were trained as eye bank
technicians, 11 in eye donation counselling
and 9 in eye bank observership program.

RIEB receives quality certificate for a period of
two years from SightLife.

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 35

Tej Kohli Eye Bank

As part of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Banking Initiative and the Tej Kohli Eye Bank, the Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme (HCRP) has been initiated at the
Government General Hospital, Vijayawada; Government General Hospital, Guntur and the District Hospital at Eluru. From these three hospitals, 227 corneas
have been collected and 127 corneas have been distributed. TKEB located in LVPEI's campus in Vijayawada is part of the LVPEI's Eye Banking network.

Mohsin Eye Bank

In the month of April 2016, the operations of Mohsin Eye Bank were taken over by LVPEI. A record of 1,082 corneas were collected - 110% growth compared
to last year and 542 corneas utilized - 280% growth compared to last year.

Drushti daan Eye Bank

Year 2016-17 witnessed a spectacular increase in annual collections and transplantations. We achieved a record collection of 1,245 corneas - an increase of
35% over last year’s collection. 982 corneas were used for transplants - 28% increase from last year. At present Drushti daan is the only eye bank in Odisha to
achieve more than 1000 annual collections of corneas.

Eye Bank Statistics

Corneas Collected RamayammaHInytdeerrnaabtaiodnal Eye Bank, Drushti daan Eye Bank, Bhubaneswar Mohsin Eye Bank, Visakhapatnam
3744
Hospital Cornea Retrieval Program 816 1112 794
Volunteered 2607 74 204
Affiliate Centres 7167 59 84
Total 1082
Corneas Utilized 1245
Surgeries at own Campuses
To Other LVPEI Campuses 2043 201 97
To Surgeons Outside LVPEI 315 0 355
Training & Research 1452 89
Total 1950 773 357
Discarded 5760 8 898
1407 183
982
264

The youngest corneal transplant patient this year was a child aged 2 months and the oldest corneal transplant patient was
aged 91 years.

36 Annual Report 2016 - 2017

31st Eye Donation Fortnight

To mark the 31st Eye Donation Fortnight, 25 August - 8 September 2016, a series of eye donation awareness activities such as rallies, talks, etc were organized
across the LVPEI network.

Awareness rally by RIEB Awareness rally by Mohsin Eye Bank Drushti daan
Eye Bank
Partner Eye Donation Centres
Akbar Eye Hospital, Anantapur (6); Amrita Nursing Home, Vemulawada (2); Balaji Eye Care,
Anantapur (45); Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust, Hyderabad (60); DBCS, Nalgonda (2); *Dist. Hospital,
Mahabubnagar (24); District Hospital, Anantapuramu (2); District Hospital, Nandyal (2); Dr. YV
Lakshmidevi Eye Bank, Prodduturu (14); Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), Eluru (Operated by TKEB)
(56) ; Goutami Eye Institute, Rajahmundry (84); Kadapa Eye Bank, Kadapa (2); Kamineni Institute of
Medical Sciences, Narketpally (26); Khammam Eye Bank, Khammam (28); *Lions Club of Karimnagar
Charitable Eye Hospital, Karimnagar (556); Lions Eye Hospital, Bodhan (60); Lions Club of Suryapet,
Suryapet (37); Lions Club of Kesamudram, Kesamudram (22); Lions Club of Cherial, Cherial (14);
Lions Club of Mahabubabad, Mahabubabad (8); Lions Club of Nizamabad, Nizamabad (2); Lions
Club of Thorrur, Thorrur (12); Lions Club of Ramagundam, Ramagundam (4); Mamata Eye Bank,
Khammam (8); Mohsin Eye Bank, Visakhapatnam (631); Modern Eye Hospital, Nellore (136);
Modern Eye Hospital & Research Centre, Ongole (28); MVR Eye Centre, Tanuku (38); Pavani Eye
Hospital, Jagityal (4); Ram Reddy Lions Eye Hospital, Mahabubnagar (2); *Regional Eye Hospital,
Kurnool (747); Regional Eye Hospital, Warangal (830); Rotary Eye Hospital, Vuyyur (22); Santiram
Medical College, Nandyal (78); Sri YBR Murthy Konaseema Eye Bank, Ambajipet (62); SRR Lions Eye
Hospital, Nidadavole (296); Sudarsani Eye Hosptial, Guntur (34); Surya Swachanda Seva Samithi,
Mahabubabad ( 8); *SVRRG General Hosptial, Tirupati (60); Tej Kohli Eye Bank (Vijayawada &
Guntur HCRPs) (171)

* RIEB runs Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme at these centers
Top Contributors highlighted in colour

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 37

Rural and Community Eye Health

Taking quality eye care to the most on investment remains the innumerable
underprivileged communities has been lives we impact with our sight restoring
the mandate of GPR ICARE since its services.
inception. In this pursuit, our network An important milestone was the 20th
of 16 secondary centres and 148 vision anniversary of our first secondary centre -
centres served about 292,000 outpatients Bhosle Gopal Rao Patil Eye Centre, Mudhol.
and performed 32,000 surgeries. Our We trained 140 candidates in various
Vision Centres collectively provided aspects of Eye Health Management and
services to 305,274 people, 55% of them Community Eye Health and our faculty’s
being women. We also established one research was highlighted in national and
secondary centre and sixteen vision international journals. At the IAPB meeting
centres during this year. in Durban, we had fifteen presentations
To create a much larger impact, our from our group.
community eye care services are With the support of various international
now integrated with Low vision and organizations, we continue to allocate our
Rehabilitation services across our resources to capacity building programs
secondary centres. Our vision centres of partner hospitals, including one in
have gone fully digital, and subspeciality Liberia. We look forward for another
services were initiated in some secondary year fully committing our resources
centres, bringing sub-speciality care much towards providing eye care services to the
closer to the doorsteps. Our social return communities we serve.

Dr Rohit C Khanna

Director,

Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye care

Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for LVPEI’s Kapileswarapuram Vision Centre
Advancement of Rural Eye care (GPR ICARE) Upgraded as the 16th Secondary Centre

LVPEI’s Kapileswarapuram Vision Centre in East Godavari District,
Andhra Pradesh has been upgraded to a full-fledged secondary
care facility and is now named as Godavarthi Satyanarayana
Murthy Eye Centre. Dr Kamineni Srinivas, Minister for Health
and Medical Education, AP and Dr B V R Mohan Reddy, Chairman
NASSCOM & Cyient Ltd were present during this event. This is
the institute’s 16th secondary centre.

Specialized Surgical Procedures – Right at Rural Doorstep

Taking forward LVPEI’s efforts to make complex surgical care available at secondary
centres, a series of specialized procedures were performed at various secondary centres
across the network. These included, advanced corneal transplant surgeries, Simple Limbal
Epithelial Transplantation (SLET), ophthalmic plastic surgeries and squint correction,
some of them being the first ever to be performed in a rural eye care centre in India.

Tele-ophthalmic Slit Lamp Installed in Secondary and Vision Centres

Teleophthalmic slit lamps that are developed in-house, are now being used in three of our
secondary centers and three vision centres. With this, doctors sitting in tertiary centres, will be
able to examine the patients in secondary and vision centres, and give their expert opinions and
advice. Active communication is possible between the doctors and the patients. Way forward,
the plan is to connect the entire LVPEI network through teleophthalmology.

Indian Oil Centre for Rural Eye Health

With an aim to provide solutions to visual impairment
in rural Odisha, the Indian Oil Centre for Rural Eye
Health was inaugurated at LVPEI's Mithu Tulsi Chanrai
Campus at Bhubaneswar by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan,
Honorable Minister of State (Independent Charge),
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government
of India. The centre which is supported by Indian Oil
Corporation, focuses on working towards creation of
'Odisha Vision Atlas' that will enable planning quality
eye care programs in Odisha.

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 39

Anniversary of LVPEI’s
First Secondary Centre

LVPEI’s first secondary centre, Bhosle Gopal Rao Patil Eye Centre in
Mudhole, Telangana celebrated its 20th anniversary on 20 December
2016. Till date 349,684 patients have been examined and 45,652
surgeries have been performed. 378 clients availed low vision
services and 265 clients benefitted from the vision rehabilitation
services, and 235,370 patients have been screened through the
vision centres connected to this secondary centre.

16 New Vision Centres Inaugurated

This year 16 new vision centres were inaugurated in the most rural and unreached areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. With this LVPEI is now
spread across a network of 148 vision centres spread across these states. The major support extended was by RayBan Foundation, Latter-day Saint Charities,
Lions Club International Foundation, OneSight Foundation, Hartex Rubber Pvt Ltd, Operation Eyesight Universal, OCL India Ltd, Seeds Foundation and Swarna
Bharath Trust. In addition, the local community also supported with rent free premises.

Digitization of the Village Vision Complex

The LVPEI vision centres are now linked to the in-house electronic medical record platform – eyeSmart. With this the real time data of all the
centres, including demographic and clinical information seen at the first mile of eye care is being documented and is enabled through the Cloud
for our patients.
A Village Vision Complex (VVC) constitutes the very foundation of the LVPEI Eye Health Pyramid. The VVC has three components - community eye care, primary
eye care and secondary eye care. A typical VVC comprises a secondary eye care Service Centre (SC) at the top, linked to a complement of 10 primary care Vision
Centres (VC), in turn linked to grassroots level, locally-sourced Vision Health Guardians.

Projects in Community Eye Health

Rapid Assessment of Visual Impairment Studies

India has the largest number of people with visual impairment. Epidemiological
data is essential for planning eye care services to address visual impairment.
Three visual impairment studies were conducted in the states of Telangana
and Tripura, a north-eastern state, to provide data for planning eye care
services. Over 7,000 people were examined as part of these projects. These
studies were supported by Lions Clubs International Foundation, Government
of Tripura, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and LVPEI.

For the rural outreach data, refer page 27

Children's Eye Health Initiatives Empowering Communities

Visual impairment in children adversely impacts the lives of the children Empowering local communities through various eye health initiatives has been
and their families. Around 0.7 million children were provided with eye the hallmark of LVPEI’s community eye health program. Five such projects are
screening. The projects are ongoing in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and currently ongoing, including, Disability Inclusive Community Eye Care Project
Odisha states. These initiatives were supported by United States Agency - supported by Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM), India and LVPEI; Mobile
for International Development (USAID), Sun Pharma Grant, Lions Clubs Refraction Screening Program - supported by Essilor Ltd; and Hospital Based
International Foundation, Lavelle Fund for the Blind Inc. and LVPEI. Community Eye Health Projects supported by Operation Eyesight Universal
and LVPEI.

Developments During the Year

Advocacy
Planning

Dr Rohit C Khanna was part of ‘Expert LVPEI hosted the ‘Regional Expert Group Consultation - Accelerating Actions for Prevention of Blindness’
Consultation on Cataract’ meeting at meetings of the World Health Organization. It was inaugurated by Sri ESL Narasimhan, Honourable Governor
WHO Geneva. of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South East
Asia was also present for these meetings.

Dr Taraprasad Das has been elected as the Regional Chair for South East Asia, International Agency for the
Prevention of Blindness, and he is also on the board of WHO Consultancy for Diabetic Retinopathy.

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 41

Helped Upgrade the Eye Department of JKF Medical Centre in Liberia
• The department is now renovated with the latest medical equipment (supported by Lions

Clubs International Foundation and Operation Eyesight Universal)
• Provided extensive training to all cadres of eye care professionals at the centre
• Deputed an ophthalmologist from LVPEI to manage and implement standard operating

systems and processes

LVPEI team in discussion with Hon’ble Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
President of Liberia at JKF Medical Centre

Tele-Ophthalmic Slit Lamp installed at A vision Centre in Maharashtra
In collaboration with Microsoft and the Maharashtra State Government,
LVPEI installed an in-house developed Tele-Ophthalmic slit lamp at a vision
centre in Harisal village, Amravati District, Maharashtra. Initially, this centre
will be directly connected to LVPEI's Hyderabad campus, but later it will be
connected to the Public Health Centre in Amravati.

Mentoring Partner
LVPEI is a 'Mentoring Partner' for the program “Reducing Blindness from Diabetic
Retinopathy and Retinopathy of Prematurity in Odisha”. The program is supported
by the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust through the Public Health Foundation
of India.

To create awareness among the masses, a series of activities were conducted on World Sight Day, World 1200+ Awareness
Diabetes Day, Children’s Day, Retinoblastoma Week and World Glaucoma Week.
generating programs
Annual Report 2016 - 2017
42 150+ Anganwadi

workers sensitized about
vision problems

Capacity Building Hospitals Supported (till date)

National: 250 International: 12

Ongoing Projects - National Hospitals: 14, International Hospitals: 2

77%Outpatient Services increase 38%Surgical Procedures increase

400000 50,000 Supported by Seva
350000 45,000 Foundation as part of the
300000 40,000 Strengthening Capacity
250000 35,000 and Learning to Effectively
200000 30,000 Deliver Quality Eye Care
150000 25,000 (SCALE) project
100000 20,000
50000 15,000
10,000
0
5,000
0

Baseline Impact Baseline Impact

Conducted 'Training of trainers in cataract surgery' for the faculty of hospitals in Kumming in Yunnan Province, China and Hohhot in inner
Mongolia. This initiative was supported by Fred Hollows Foundation

Redesigned operating complex and provided staff training at Nepal Eye Hospital, Kathmandu with support from Operation Eyesight Universal

A total of 140 people were trained in

delivering quality eye care to benefit the
community as a whole through various training
programmes such as certificate, diploma and
online courses in Community Eye Health and Eye
Health Management.

Education

2016-17 has been a year of “Digitalizing fellowships: Cataract-Refractive fellowship
education and Maximizing reach”, which and Medical Retina–Uveitis fellowship.
we achieved through multiple initiatives The Academy’s collaboration with
that connected international audiences International organizations flourished
as well as doctors working for community this year. We trained teams nominated
at secondary centres - innovating existing through our collaboration with the London
programs, online exams, Echo Clinics and School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
secondary centre grand rounds using (through the Commonwealth Eye Health
Adobe Connect. Consortium – CEHC). We have facilitated
The enormous success of our Clinical the training of 22 candidates since the
Pearls series – JAM: Just A Minute, a quick advent of this collaboration in 2015.
platform to share ophthalmology learning LVPEI’s 2015 agreement with John F
pearls – has now led to evolving new Kennedy Memorial Medical Center,
concepts like JAM-Prime! Liberia, has led to our support for Team
Our Continuous Medical Education Training in Liberia, besides training 5
programs have fulfilled their design in candidates, and providing a trained
offering a range of hands-on training ophthalmologist from LVPEI for initial Eye
opportunities to practitioners. Care delivery in the country.
We revisited our Ophthalmology training Our focus for 2017-18 will be to strengthen
curriculum and introduced 2 new our pyramidal structure bottom-up.

Avinash Pathengay

Director,

Academy for Eye Care Education

Digital Education Cuts Across Borders

Academy for Eye Care Education The first Clinical Pearl - JAM: Just Based on the success of
a Minute - was disseminated on these series, a new series
9 August 2016. Till 31 March - JAM Prime: A Guide for
2017, 235 such clinical pearls Beginners - has also been
have been shared. The design initiated.
and content of each clinical
pearl is crystallized into a single The first clinical pearl The first JAM Prime
60 second learning experience.

The average opening rate of JAM - Clinical Pearl series

The third Education Day had Dr Ken K Nischal, internationally renowned pediatric ophthalmologist, The third ALO (Alumni of LVPEI Optometrists)
deliver the keynote lecture. Certificates were awarded to 149 trainees from across the network, annual meeting had over 150 alumni, including 61
comprising Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, Vision Technicians, Ophthalmic Nursing Assistants, optometry students. The highlight of the meet was
DEHM and DCEH graduates. the interactive scientific discussions on pediatric
optometry and vision therapy.

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 45

Geographical Spread of Trainees

4

19 London

4252 2 1 9 3
Georgia 2
Italy Korea
USA 2 2 Azerbaijan 4
Israel 2 Afghanistan 5 China 1 Taiwan
1 Nepal
13 1 India 3
1 Egypt ASraaubdiai Bangladesh
Mexico 1 Oman Philippines
Nigeria 13 2
Number o5f30 Liberia 5
Trainees Ghana Cameroon 1 Kenya Malaysia

Tanzania Indonesia 13

N4a2ti5onal 1 Australia
I1nt0er5national
Argetina

28In addition to our training programs, a total of Eminent
Continuing Medical Education (CMEs) and clinicians, researchers
nweotrwksohrko.ps23w8er1e organized across the LVPEI and change-makers from
participants from the world Endowment different walks of life delivered
& guest lectures on a varied spectrum
over attended these programs. of topics and engaged in discussions
Guest with our faculty, fellows and
Lectures a distinguished invited audience.
Through the year 3 endowment
lectures and 20 guest lectures
were organized across the

network.

46 Annual Report 2016 - 2017

I did my fellowship at LVPEI in Ophthalmic I did my comprehensive fellowship, specializing
Plastic Surgery in 2014. The structured training in Pediatrics, at LVPEI’s Bhubaneswar campus
program, the protocol based treatment and in 2016. One very important thing that I
the opportunities you get to present and have learnt is that patient care should never
publish, are unique to this fellowship. It trains be compromised come what may! I got an
you to train others as well. The most important opportunity to assist doctors renowned for
thing that I took away from my time at LVPEI is their surgical prowess and medical acumen, and I started loving
the skill of critically reading medical literature and applying it in what I was doing.
clinical practice.
Dr Debasmita Majhi is currently a faculty member at LVPEI
Dr Akshay Nair is an ophthalmic plastic surgeon and ocular Bhubaneswar.
oncologist at Advanced Eye Hospital, Navi Mumbai.

The first time I
took off as a retinal surgeon was when I was
posted with Dr P Rajeev Reddy - he used to leave me alone in difficult
surgical cases, quietly peeping inside through the window and keeping a watch. This
instilled a sense of confidence in me. When I was asked about my publications, a prerequisite
for teaching, I could with utmost pride share that I already had ten publications in indexed journals
for my work in LVPEI, a few still being in the pipeline. The biggest thing that it has taught me is to
respect the patients. I can feel the change in me and it shows in the love and warmth that my patients
express towards me.

Dr Vikas Ambiya is the sole retinal surgeon in one of the busiest Army Hospitals in the
country catering to a huge population of ex-servicemen and their families. He
is also an Assistant Professor in the Army College of Medical
Sciences, New Delhi.

I feel a sense of satisfaction and pride when I completed my Vision Technician course in
the doctors and my peers appreciate my 2013 and since then have been working as
work. Before undergoing this training, I was a vision technician at LVPEI’s vision centre in
just sitting at home. My life now has got a Nagarkurnool. I feel empowered today, to be
new direction. able to support my family. The respect and
identity that I have gained in my community,
Phoolmani Baraik, hailing from a naxal- makes me feel really proud of the work that I am doing.
dominated village in Jharkhand, completed the two year ONA
(Ophthalmic Nursing Assistant) program in July 2016 and has Lingeshwari, Vision Technician,

now joined LVPEI as a theatre nurse. Vision Centre, Nagarkurnool, Telangana.

Annual Report 2016 - 2017 47

Research

Dr D Balsubramanian, after 18 long and of lens proteins in eye development,
fruitful years of yeoman service to BHERC relationship between gut microbomes and
as its first Director, has stepped down to disease, vision psychophysics, community
continue as a Distinguished Scientist (& eye health research, patient reported
Director of Research Emeritus). Balu, as outcomes research etc. In addition, it has
he is dearly known to all, singlehandedly put together engineers, scientists and
put together the personnel, facilities ophthalmologists to design devices and
and themes of research at BHERC which instruments for day-to-day use in the eye
even today are very relevant to eye clinic and for research. The performance
research. Thus for me as the incumbent, of a research centre is essentially based on
my toughest task is to measure up to his the research output (number of papers),
standards and carry forward the mantle the recognition (prestigious awards,
of performance and excellence. BHERC grants and invitations) and manpower
is a small but vibrant research centre development (that is the number of Ph.
catering to the requirements of an eye Ds produced and students trained). On
hospital with respect to eye diseases and all the above counts the performance has
eye care research and has also ventured been good and there is a clear potential
on to the untrodden path of stem cell to achieve excellence. I am overwhelmed
research, genetic basis of eye diseases, with the activity and hope to strengthen it
causes for antimicrobial resistance, role in the years to come.

S Shivaji

Director,

Prof Brien Holden Eye Research Centre (BHERC)