Devotees won’t turn blind eyes to diabetes – Mid-day

Outside Siddhivinayak Temple, thousands get free diabetes and eye check-up at state-of-the-art medical camp.

Devotees who went for darshan at Siddhivinayak Temple were blessed with the assurance of good health and eyesight yesterday, thanks to a free medical camp right outside.

Over the past week alone, more than 12,000 people underwent free blood tests and eye check-ups to screen for diabetes at the camp organised by Dr Nishant Kumar, ophthalmologist with Hinduja Hospital. What made the deal even sweeter for the devotees was that the speed of the check-up – six minutes for the tests, four minutes for the blood reports and a few hours for the eye results.

“Diabetes is one of the leading causes for loss of sight. Often, patients underestimate the problem until it is too late,” said Dr Kumar, who founded the Eyebetes Foundation and kicked off the first camp last year at Lalbaugcha Raja.

A blessing for devotees

On average, more than 1,200 devotees are benefiting from the free camp every day during the Ganesh festival. One such patient was Gaurav Aswani, 18, who had come to the temple from Thane. After darshan, Aswani underwent the test. “Within four minutes, I got the test results that confirmed I did not have diabetes. As for my eye check-up report, I’ll get an SMS in the evening,” said the teenager.

Another patient, Prathmesh Tiwari, 32, was so pleased with the service that he intends to return to the medical camp with his parents. “It took around six minutes to get the tests done. Tomorrow, I will come back with my parents for darshan and will ask them to undergo the test so that I can find out if they have diabetes,” said the Vile Parle resident.

Best technology is used

Each of the eye machines at the camp costs Rs 15 lakh. In addition, patients sent test results over SMS, after consulting a group of experts.

“All the data is maintained online. The eye reports are reviewed by eye surgeons from across the world using the specially designed software of the Eyebetes Foundation. The doctors’ comments are collated and sent to the participants via a text message,” explained Dr Kumar.

Expert speak

Dr Gautam Bhansali, consultant physician at Bombay Hospital, said, “Late diagnosis can lead to blindness. This camp will benefit hundreds of people, especially those from less privileged backgrounds.”

12k

Number of participants so far

Rs 15 lakh

Cost of each eye machine

7

No. of eye check-up machines

18

Min age of participants

Article Source: Mid-Day | September 02, 2017
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