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Eye care enhanced

11/19/2009

EYE care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) has been taken to a new level – negating the need for Barbadians to travel to Cuba and elsewhere for cataract surgery and other procedures.

QEH officials revealed yesterday that the medical institution now had two state-of-the-art pieces of machinery that would significantly increase the quality and speed of cataract removals and hence reduce the current backlog of patients requiring this surgery over the next four months.

Additionally, both Head of Opthalmology at the QEH, Dr. David Callender and Sunil Moonasar, surgical sales supervisor and manager for the Caribbean for Alcon, the company that has provided the new Infinity Vision System at no cost to the island’s main health care facility, said not only would Barbadians be able to remain at home for cataract treatment, but the island could start welcoming more patients from other Caribbean islands to have their treatment here.

The two officials were speaking to the media in the QEH’s boardroom yesterday afternoon, where details of the new equipment and its uses were outlined.

Cataract is a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision and eventual blindness if left untreated.

Last month the hospital got a new laser that is used to remove cloudiness that develops behind the surgical implant after a cataract operation, and now it also has an Infinity Vision System which uses ultra sound technology and significantly improves cataract operations, the two men explained.

Callendar said while the hospital had been doing cataract surgery “from the time we have had an eye department here”, the new equipment from Alcon would make a great difference.

“We have had other technology in the past for doing such surgery using ultrasound, but we just upgraded to the latest technology available and this technology will afford us the opportunity to do cataract surgery much faster, therefore increasing the number of cases we can do in any given day,” he said.

“It is much safer than previously available, so that our doctors in training can learn techniques at a much faster rate. So we can generate or produce competent eye surgeons in a shorter time frame than previously allowed if possible.”
The paediatric specialist said overall the new equipment “will certainly enhance our development plans to upgrade our service, improve the service”.

“We plan to expand the service and at some point in time in the not too distant future we will be in a position to offer services to persons outside these shores as well if the opportunity were to arise. The longterm plan is to have several such systems available in the hospital at some point in time. We started with one and when certain things are put in place we hope to have a second some time in the future,” he noted.

Moonasar, noting that his organisation had been partners for the last 25 years “in the pharmaceutical and surgical areas”, said the Infinity Vision System was a major plus.

“This new Infinity Vision System has the capabilities of doing cataract extraction by Phacoemulsification, this is like using ultra sound in the eye that breaks up the cataract in small pieces and then aspirating or vacuuming it out of the eye. The equipment has a very very safe profile, it is much more controlled, it can give the surgeon the capabilities of controlling the vacuum, controlling the Phaco power and it also enhances the outcomes,” he explained.

“We all know that cataracts is one of the major causes of preventable blindness, it’s a preventable disease, and by Alco partnering with Queen Elizabeth Hospital we are reducing that incidence of cataracts,” he added. (SC)

Indices

as of close 9/15/2009


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