The Tele-Ophthalmology Unit (TOU), a modern mobile eye treatment facility for rural areas, started functioning in the eye department of MKCG Medical College and Hospital here.
An air-conditioned minibus, fitted with modern and latest equipment to treat eye patients in rural areas was flagged-off by Pradip Panigrahi, MLA of Gopalpur in presence of the principal and superintendent of the medical college and hospital A K Dandapat and A K Behera respectively.
Trained technicians, undergraduate medical students and doctors will go in the bus to collect patients' data from villages through eye treatment camps. The data would then be transmitted online and experts would suggest treatment through videoconferencing, said head of the department, Ophthalmology B Nageswara Rao Subudhi.
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"The TOU will only provide treatment to the patients in rural areas, but any surgery needed for patients will be conducted in the hospital," he said.
A camp was held at Dengaosta village, about 40 km from here on Monday attended by over 100 patients, sources said.
The Centre has provided Rs 60 lakh for the project and the state government has agreed to bear the operational expenditures, they said.
The project was sanctioned under the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) and aimed at providing treatment in rural areas, Subudhi said adding, initially the unit would operate in Ganjam district and would subsequently be extended to Gajapati, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Koraput, Nabarangapur and Malkanagiri districts.
He said discussion was on with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to provide Internet and other facilities in the vehicle to transmit data via satellite system.
Meanwhile the department has requested the government to provide an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), the latest machine to diagnose and treat retinal aliments. The instrument would cost around Rs 35 lakh, sources added.
