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L V Prasad Eye Institute, as part of its undertaking of developing various Institutes of Excellence that focus on major causes of blindness, is partnering with the Bajaj Group for an Institute of Excellence and a Global Resource Centre for Retinal Diseases.

The MoU to formalize the partnership was signed between Mr Shekhar Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Electricals Limited (BEL) and Dr Prashant Garg, Executive Chair, L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), on 21 January 2022. Named as the Anant Bajaj Retina Institute in the loving memory of late Mr Anant Bajaj, it will be an integral part of LVPEI. The Institute of Excellence aims to enhance access to high-quality retina care to several million more people through direct services of the LVPEI network and the work of its alumni and partners, and through capacity building across India and other parts of the world. Besides clinical care, the focus will be on training ophthalmologists and eye care personnel, building the capacity of other eye care organisations at national and international levels, promoting and enhancing research capacity in India and other developing countries, scaling up community eye health programs and utilizing technology for the better care of retinal diseases.

A World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for the Prevention of Blindness, LVPEI is one of the leading players in the global initiatives for eliminating avoidable blindness. “One of the strategic areas of focus for LVPEI is developing Institutes of Excellence and Global Resource Centres for controlling all major forms of blindness and visual impairment through dedicated efforts from health promotion to the treatment of complex eye diseases and rehabilitation of the incurably blind. The Anant Bajaj Retina Institute is one such initiative, and we are excited to partner with Mr Shekhar Bajaj and the Bajaj Group,” said Dr Prashant Garg, Executive Chair, L V Prasad Eye Institute.

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities of Bajaj Group are guided by the vision and philosophy of its Founder, late Shri Jamnalal Bajaj, who embodied the concept of Trusteeship in business and the common good. “The Bajaj family wishes to thank LVPEI for naming their Retina Centre as Anant Bajaj Retina Institute. We are pleased to partner with an institution that is widely reputed for its excellence and innovation in providing world class service towards eye care.  We believe LVPEI and Anant Bajaj Retina Institute can together make a big difference through multiple eye care centres to provide preventive and rehabilitation services to all, especially those in rural areas. Anant’s dream was to combine cutting-edge technology with philanthropy to make a difference in the lives of people. With the launch of the Anant Bajaj Retina Institute, his vision of an India with better eye health will come true,” said Mr Shekhar Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Electricals Limited (BEL).

The retina is the innermost layer of the eye and plays a critical role for sight. Once damaged, it results in irreversible vision loss. Examples of a few such vision-threatening retinal problems are Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration, Retinal Detachment, Retinitis Pigmentosa and other hereditary retinal diseases, and Retinopathy of Prematurity. Blindness and vision impairment due to retinal diseases can be controlled and managed, provided it is diagnosed early and treated in time. “The Anant Bajaj Retina Institute comprises highly compassionate, experienced and accomplished clinicians, scientists and researchers. With this partnership, we will be scaling up our services to bring advanced retinal eye care services to the doorstep of communities – making it accessible and affordable for all. We extend our sincere thanks to the Bajaj group for their generous support,” said Dr Raja Narayanan, Network Head, Anant Bajaj Retina Institute.

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 functional 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), with more than 50% of them entirely free of cost, irrespective of the complexity of care needed.

The eye care nonprofit Orbis International announced its collaboration on new research published in the latest issue of the top-tier peer-reviewed medical journal PLOS ONE. The research outlines the findings of in-depth interviews conducted with parents and caregivers across India that were used to determine the top barriers to accessing sight-saving cataract treatment for their children. The research also identifies the top enablers – that is, the factors that motivate families – for seeking care. An understanding of these barriers and enablers can be used to improve parents’ timely uptake of services for their children.

Ensuring children receive cataract surgery in a timely manner – ideally, no more than three months following a diagnosis – is essential for preventing long-term negative effects on their vision. However, in India, child cataract surgery is often delayed significantly. For children born with the condition, the average age of treatment is 4 years old, while children who develop cataract(s) later are, on average, 8 years of age before receiving surgery.

“More children are blind in India than in any other country, and in over half of cases, sight could be restored with early intervention and treatment,” said Dr. Rishi Raj Borah, Country Director for Orbis India and a co-author of the new study. “Cataracts are no small part of this challenge. But ensuring that we increase access to quality eye care is not enough. We must also understand what holds families back from accessing that care, work to address those barriers, and double down on the factors we know are resulting in more children getting the care they need.”

Study Findings

The study found that the top three barriers were related to:

• Environmental context and resources, including cost, even when surgery was available free of charge, due to related expenses like travel and lost wages; local health facilities not offering screening programs to detect cataracts or surgeries to treat them; and stressors, such as lengthy travel to hospitals or wait times for appointments.
• Beliefs about consequences, including cultural beliefs based on spirituality and old practices, such as seeking care from local healers; concern about negative outcomes post-surgery; and a lack of appreciation for the importance of preventive eye care.
• Social influences, including cultural norms that give low priority to eye care for children; and social pressure for parents to try alternate forms of treatment, such as herbal remedies.

On the other hand, the study found that top enablers were related to:

• Social influences: The social structure of families and extended communities had a significant impact on whether parents sought cataract surgery for their children. A particularly powerful influencer was having someone available to support the parent or caregiver by accompanying them to the hospital or looking after their other children.
• Beliefs about consequences: Parents who realized the importance of eye care for their child were more likely to take their child for treatment. Doctor-patient communication at the hospital was also vital because of the opportunity it provided to reinforce the importance of early treatment to the parents directly.
• Motivation, goals and intention: When the parents had clear intention to provide early treatment for their child, they accessed the services early despite having economic challenges.

The comprehensive findings from this research have enabled Orbis to understand parents’ perceived barriers and enablers to accessing childhood cataract services, which will be targeted in all future interventions in India to improve timely uptake of cataract services by children.

Orbis’s Impact in India

India was one of the first countries where Orbis established a local office, and the organization has made far-reaching impact – for children in particular – over the past two decades. When Orbis began working in India in 2000, pediatric ophthalmology was not yet seen as a distinct specialty in India, and there was only one eye care center for every 100 million children across the country. Over the years, Orbis has developed a comprehensive network of 33 Children’s Eye Centers across 17 states, with one eye care center for every 20 million children.

In total, Orbis has conducted more than 17.5 million pediatric eye screenings, provided medical and optical treatment to 1.6 million children, performed 103,000 surgeries on children, and organized 180,000 ophthalmic trainings completed by doctors, nurses, community health workers and others in India.

According to new research, antibiotic-resistant germs caused more than 1.2 million fatalities worldwide in a single year, implying that these “superbugs” have joined the ranks of the world’s greatest infectious disease killers.

Antimicrobial resistance, which is responsible for a substantial number of deaths caused by treatable diseases, has arisen as a new issue for health researchers. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the cause of several deaths caused by treatable diseases such as lower respiratory and bloodstream infections, because the bacteria that causes the sickness has developed resistance to treatment. According to the Indian Express, a study published in the Lancet journal that included more than 204 nations indicated that more than 12 lakh people died in 2019 as a result of AMR, which is several times more than mortality caused by HIV/AIDS or malaria.

The Lancet research analysed the deaths linked to 23 pathogens and 88 pathogen-drug combinations. The study found that more than 12 lakh deaths would not have taken place directly if the infection had not become resistant to drugs. In addition to the 12 lakh deaths directly linked to the problem of AMR, the study found that another 49 lakh people died due to causes that are linked to AMR but the patients did not die directly of AMR but other problems.