State-of-the-art eye care facility opens in Seychelles |15 January 2022
A new eye care facility – MIOT International Total Eye Care – was officially opened yesterday at Espace Building.
The facility, a collaboration between Miot International and Visus Optical, is a much needed service as many Seychellois were travelling to India for such eye treatment.
Present at the launch were President Wavel Ramkalawan; First Lady Linda Ramkalawan; Minister for Health Peggy Vidot; Indian high commissioner to Seychelles General Dalbir Singh Suhag; Dr Prithvi Mohandas, managing director of MIOT International and Lisa Chetty, director, MIOT International Total Eye Care.
Giving an account of how it all started, Dr Mohandas said: “Following discussion with President Wavel Ramkalawan and responding to his personal request, I made successive trips to Seychelles in 2021 to explore and propagate the possibility of end to end care in Seychelles itself. Thus was born MIOT International Total Eye Care, a totally private entity, providing the A to Z of eye care from diagnosis to complete treatment at their doorstep to the citizens of Seychelles.”
After a tour of the facility, President Ramkalawan shared with the press that when he met Dr Mohandas, he addressed the demands that Seychelles has.
“One of the urgent services Seychelles needed was an eye hospital. Right now, the list of people needing cataract surgery is long and the Ministry of Health will have to build a clinic to cater for all these demands. After talking to Prof. Mohandas, he gave me his words for this to happen. As a former patient of MIOT Hospital in India, I know their standard and for me I thank MIOT for this investment and also Ms Chetty for this collaboration. Seychelles today has another milestone in the development of our health sector. This clinic is with high standard and this is our aim – to put the best service at the hands of Seychellois and we hope that this will provide a better health to all Seychellois,” President Ramkalawan said.
President Ramkalawan also noted that this eye care facility will also be welcoming tourists for eye care thus promoting Seychelles as a medical tourism country.
Minister Vidot shared that the Ministry of Health and the MIOT Hospitals, Chennai, India has a long collaboration since the year 2010 and provided many services to the people of Seychelles.
“As part of the development of health sector in Seychelles, we always welcome private investments which supplement our own. As a country we are very open and the President is always pushing the health agenda forward. With the ongoing pandemic, we will keep improving the private health and our services to cater for the Seychellois. Eye care is an important component for this management and we are grateful to have MIOT as a partner to move the agenda forward.”
To recall, the Seychelles government sends citizens who cannot have their treatment done in their own country to MIOT Hospitals for medical care in over 63 specialities ranging from new born children to adults. So great is their faith and trust in MIOT Hospitals that even at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, over 100 patients from Seychelles availed of medical treatment at MIOT Hospitals in 2021.
The new clinic will be functional as of Monday and the facility employs 16 Seychellois and 6 Indians. It is the first Indian hospital to provide full time services in Seychelles.
Eye care services offered are from simple eye power testing to treating vision conditions / refractive errors / eye power, cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, squint correction, uveitis, corneal diseases, age-related macular degeneration, oculoplasty procedure, lid – conjunctival & corneal tear repair, chalazions, treating dry eye and other minor procedures.
MIOT International partnered with Visus Optical, a leading optical care centre in Seychelles, and works with the goal to eradicate preventable blindness in Seychelles.
About the clinic
MIOT International Total Eye Care is a private entity in totality and they invested USD 900,000 for this world-class eye care setup. It is the first Indian hospital to provide full time services in Seychelles in a facility covering 500 square metres.
The clinic was designed and envisioned by keeping the people’s safety in mind with social distancing measures and the care of the patient begins as soon as they enter. The mission is to provide an all-round holistic eye care to the patients and a variety of treatments are delivered under one roof, at global standards.
Facilities and services offered
From diagnosis to treatment, MIOT’s commitment to excellence is providing exceptional patient experience on a whole. Likewise, the technology that backs our expertise is on par with the international eye care standards and the best in their class. ● AutorefractorKeratometer ● Computerized tonometer ● Slit lamp Microscope with Applanation tonometer ● A-scan ● Visual field analyzer ● Indirect Ophthalmoscope ● Keratometer ● Optical Coherence Tomography ● YAG & GREEN Laser ● Phacoemulsifier
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)
OCT is a non-invasive diagnostic instrument used for imaging the retina. It has the ability to detect problems in the eye prior to any symptoms being present in the patient. With an OCT, doctors are able to see a cross section or 3D image of the retina and detect the early onset of a variety of eye conditions and eye diseases such as macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma – which are some of the most common diseases known to cause blindness. Using an OCT allows for early treatment in patients and dramatically improves the success of these treatments.
Laser Room (YAG & GREEN Laser)
The state-of-the-art laser room has been set up with the latest Retinal GREEN Laser and APPA YAG 307,YAG Laser with Super-gaussian mode, which are highly sophisticated laser equipment that has the ability to correct a whole variety of ailments in a swift and efficient manner. Ailments like ‘Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy’ and ‘Narrow Angle Glaucoma’, which are common and chronic occurrences, are treated here with the lasers. The state-of-the-art equipment allows us to complete the procedure in less than half an hour.
Procedure room
Safe and hygienic procedure rooms with perfect equipment to perform composite corrective procedures. The room is equipped with an Operating Microscope, CATARHEX 3 Phacoemulsifier for procedures. They work in tandem and are super-efficient such it can break an opaque cataract lens into small pieces with an incision of just 2.2mm. The procedure room has also been fitted with high intensity, powerful HEPA air filters that always circulates fresh and clean air (30 times per minute) to keep the standard of hygiene in the room high, at all time. The perfectly planned procedures give you the convenience to return home on the same day.
