THE Subraj Foundation Transplantation Team will be visiting Guyana on its 23rd Mission during the period October 8th to 11th, 2015. Its members are expected to assess patients to perform a series of corneal transplant surgeries at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Headed by Dr. Rahul Jindal, the team has a track record of already performing 26 kidney transplants and 17 corneal transplants in Guyana. The first set of six corneal transplants was done in August 2014, and the second set of 11 corneal transplants was done at the Georgetown Public Hospital in July 2015.
As obtained during its last mission, just about 3 months ago, the team from the USA will comprise three physicians – Dr. Rahul Jindal, and Corneal Transplant Surgeons Dr. Stephen Waller and Dr. Joseph Pasternak. They will be accompanied by members of the Subraj Foundation Transplantation Team and by Mr George Subraj. They hope to complete another 10 corneal transplant surgeries during this visit.
Head of the Ophthalmology Department Dr. Shailendra Sugrim has said that, over the past two months, the Department of Ophthalmology has been following up the patients from the last visit, and all the patients have been doing very well.
“We have also been generating a new list of patients that will be seen by the team for the next set of corneal transplants,” he said.
The team usually brings the donor corneas with them, along with special microsurgical ophthalmic instruments to perform these surgeries. The visiting corneal specialists will work along with local ophthalmologists to perform the surgeries.
The cornea – the clear “glass-window” of the eye – refracts light and allows the entrance of light into the eye, and this enables us to see. Any disorder that makes the cornea cloudy or opacified can cause severe visual impairment. Many patients who became blinded by corneal opacities or disorders can regain their sight via corneal transplants.
The GPHC Department of Ophthalmology is also encouraging any patient who has been previously recommended for corneal transplants by ophthalmologists to come to the GPHC Eye Clinic with the letter of recommendation from their ophthalmologist, along with all investigations that have been previously done.
