Eye Care Everywhere! CMC Inaugurates New Eye Surgery Operating Theater at the Chittoor Campus

By Dr. Kenny David, Associate Director, Chittoor Campus

Ophthalmology services were started in CMC Vellore Chittoor Campus in January 2017. Over the last 6 years, the department has grown from a once-aweek Outpatient Department (OPD) by one doctor to daily OPD services by a 6-member team that serves 7600+ patients and performs nearly 200 eye surgeries per year.

Eye surgeries require absolute sterility of the Operation Theatre (OT). There is a risk of acquiring post-surgical complications or infections if eye surgeries are performed in a common OT where multi-disciplinary surgeries are performed on general patients. So we dreamed of having a dedicated Eye Operation Theatre at Chittoor Campus –and we are tremendously grateful as our dream has become a reality.

On March 24, 2023, we inaugurated our brand-new Eye Operation theatre. We were blessed with the visit of our donors Dr. Mangala Venkatesh (MBBS Batch of 1970) and her husband Mr. Venki Venkatesh for this special occasion. They were accompanied by six members of the Batch of 1970 – a class which boasts of six ophthalmologists in their ranks! Along with Dr. Mangala & Mr. Venki, we acknowledged Dr. Robert H.Fish from the Scudder Family whose generous contributions, through the

Vellore CMC Foundation USA, made our Eye Operation Theatre a reality. The inauguration program consisted of a prayer song and Bible reading by the students, a short message by Rev. Giftus from Chaplaincy and felicitations by various key members of the Chittoor team. On behalf of the department, Dr T. Jeevaratnam presented the stories of some of our patients coming to Chittoor and how our interventions have saved their sight.

Dr. Mangala shared her experience as an Alumna of CMC now working in the USA. Mr. Venki shared his personal story of having eye operations as a child and the tremendous difference sight-saving operations can have. The Batch of 1970 gave an impromptu performance of ‘Amazing Grace’ with the words ‘I once was blind but now I see’ reflecting the transformative power of healing. Currently, the Ophthalmology Services at CMC Vellore Chittoor Campus includes Medical Records, Spectacle clinic, Refraction and Investigation, Automated Refractometer for eye power estimate, clinical examination areas with Slit-lamp Biomicroscopy etc. We are continuing to appeal for support to equip the new Eye OT with anesthesia equipment, monitors, and ophthalmology equipment like a phacoemulsification machine for cataract surgeries.