LVPEI manages 1 lakh preterm babies for ROP eye disease

A total of 1,00,687 babies from across the country and neighbouring countries have been managed for ROP by providing preventative, curative and rehabilitative care

Hyderabad: The city-based LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) crossed a major milestone in preventing avoidable blindness in newborn babies by managing 1,00,000 preterm babies for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) across its network centres in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

A total of 1,00,687 babies from across the country and neighbouring countries have been managed for ROP by providing preventative, curative and rehabilitative care, a press release said. Of these, 64,000 babies have been managed at LVPEI’s Kallam Anji Reddy campus in Hyderabad, 17,000 at the Bhubaneswar campus, 9000 at the Vijayawada campus, 8000 at the Visakhapatnam campus and 9500 through the LVPEI rural secondary centres.

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Preterm infants or those with low birth weight (less than 2 kg at birth) are at the risk of developing ROP, a blinding eye disease. “Each treated baby can take anywhere from 1-4 hours of focused care by the team followed by months and years of follow-up care to achieve the best possible vision for these babies by the time they enter school life,” said Dr Subhadra Jalali, Network Director, Newborn Eye Health Alliance (NEHA), LVPEI.

On the occasion, LVPEI Atlas of Retinopathy of Prematurity and other Neonatal Retinal Diseases was launched to guide clinicians, researchers, healthcare personnel and policy makers. Dr Akash Belenje from Anant Bajaj Retina Institute, LVPEI, and R Ugandhar Reddy, Optometrist, LVPEI, compiled the images for the atlas.