Things looking up for Bustamante patients
Published:Saturday | October 30, 2021 | 12:09 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
Bustamante Hospital for Children yesterday got a significant boost to its eye-care diagnostics capacity with the donation of a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope by Eye Q Optical.
Consultant ophthalmologist Dr Leighton Maddan explained that the state-of-the-art equipment is greatly appreciated based on the flexibility in operations it will allow the hospital staff.
With most of the children seen at the hospital clinics below the age of three, he said that it can be quite challenging to administer eye examinations to them as the standard equipment requires that they sit forward and rest their chin on a surface. However, the binocular indirect ophthalmoscope fits over the head and face and is fitted with wireless technology.
“It is more portable, more flexible in terms of the ergonomics and offers us the opportunity to offer more comprehensive examinations, using the headset and the portable lenses,” Maddan told The Gleaner. It offers us the opportunity to offer a much more comprehensive examination of children in wheelchairs, anybody who can’t fit on the standard equipment. So we are able to do a complete ophthalmic examination using the headset and or portable lenses,” he said.
HELPS WITH SCREENING
In diagnosing premature infants, the new piece of equipment will be especially useful in providing early detection for a condition called retinopathy of prematurity or underdevelopment of the retina.
Retinopathy of prematurity is an eye disorder caused by abnormal blood vessel growth in the light-sensitive part of the eyes (retina) of premature infants. It generally affects infants born before week 31 of pregnancy and weighing 2.75 pounds (about 1,250 grams) or less at birth.
“We are trying to prevent them from having something like that so early, so of course, this obviously helps us from a screening and an investigation point of view,” Maddan shared.
Dr Aron Wohl, head of Eye Q Optical, said that the company was pleased to be able to donate the equipment valued at $300,000, which was timed to coincide with the company’s 20th anniversary.
“We understood there was a need for this type of equipment and to celebrate our milestone anniversary, we decided to donate a portion of our revenue towards purchasing the equipment and we are very proud to be able to pass it on,” he told The Gleaner.