GPHC performs 12 corneal transplants
Ophthalmologist Dr Celeste Hinds and the GPHC nursing team conduct corneal transplant surgery at the GPHC Eye Theatre
Ophthalmologist Dr Celeste Hinds and the GPHC nursing team conduct corneal transplant surgery at the GPHC Eye Theatre

– through collaboration with George Subraj Family Foundation

THE Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has collaborated with the George Subraj Family Foundation to conduct four batches of corneal transplants at the hospital over the past six months.

Since 2015 the foundation has been funding free corneal transplants at the institution by providing free corneal tissues; inviting corneal specialists from the U.S. to train local surgeons in the surgery; and providing instruments and consumables needed for the surgeries.

According to GPHC’s Ophthalmology Department, three of the local surgeons can now perform corneal transplants independently. The foundation, after building local capacity, was able to send four shipments of corneal tissues so that the local surgeons could have performed sight-saving surgeries for Guyanese.

A total of 12 transplant surgeries were performed in the latter half of 2018. The department said three transplants were done in June; four in August; three in October; and two in December.

Over the years, 84 corneal transplants have been successfully done at GPHC through the collaboration.

The three local surgeons who performed those 12 surgeries were Dr. Celeste Hinds, Dr. Jenell Sarju-Kanhai, and Dr. Shailendra Sugrim, along with their dedicated team of nurses of the GPHC Eye Theatre. Prior to 2015, patients would usually have to travel overseas to have these procedures performed.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported that Dr. Shailendra Sugrim who conducted the surgeries, said assistance from the foundation has been exceptional because, besides providing the corneas, they trained two local doctors to do corneal transplants.
“This is not the first time they donated corneas; the surgery was never done in Guyana before they provided assistance,” said the doctor.
He said they have also invested a lot into supplying the hospital with certain equipment and tools.

The foundation recently donated two cornea topographers and a flash steriliser to the hospital, totalling almost US$10,000.

Dr. Sugrim said the topographer would help them to detect irregularities in the cornea, while the new steriliser would complement the old and only steriliser that they had.

Founder of the foundation, Geogre Subraj started the humanitarian work in 1992 when he joined the Guyana Watch Medical Outreach team which was founded by local businessman Tony Yassin and academic, Dr Tara Singh.

After starting his own foundation a few years later, he had facilitated the travel of medical volunteers to Guyana to offer medical care across the country with a focus on helping the less fortunate.

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