LVPEI-Standard Chartered Bank opens advanced primary eye care centre in Siddipet

There are plans to have a total 63 advanced vision centres by March 2024 LV Prasad Eye Institute in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, India, opened a technology-enabled primary eye care centre in Koheda village in Siddipet district. Karuna Bhatia, Head of Sustainability, Standard Chartered Bank, India, Dr Prashant Garg, Executive-Chair, LV Prasad Eye Institute, and local dignitaries were present for the inauguration. With this launch, LVPEI and Standard Chartered Bank now have 36 technology-enabled primary eye care centres across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. So far, over 1.12 lakhs beneficiaries have availed of the available services at these centres. The plan is to have a total 63 of such advanced vision centres by March 2024. The primary goal of the Vision Centre is to provide basic eye care including detecting common blinding eye conditions, correction of refractive errors and appropriate referral of complex cases to the next level. LVPEI in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, India, under their ‘Seeing is Believing’ program in 2019 introduced Technology-Enabled Vision Centres. These centres equipped with various technological devices offer diagnostic and teleophthalmology services in addition to primary eye care. The LVPEI Network of Primary Eye Care Centres comprises 236 Vision Centres, including 65 Technology Enabled Centres, across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. “The centre at Koheda is LVPEI’s eighth Technology-Enabled Primary Eye Care in Siddipet in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, India. Each of these centres is expected to examine 2500 patients per annum. With the enhanced services available at the centre, the referral rate to secondary and tertiary centres for advanced care is expected to come down by 20 per cent. This will bring about a substantial indirect cost saving (travel cost) to the patients and the community at large,” said Dr Prashant Garg, Executive-Chair, L V Prasad Eye Institute.