In light of this International Humanitarian Day, Akbar Brothers made a donation to the National Eye Hospital of Colombo.
Ceylon’s leading tea export company, Akbar Brothers (Pvt) Limited (ABL) and The Colombo Tea Traders’ Association (CTTA) donated a state-of-the-art machine for Vitrectomy surgery to the National Eye Hospital (NEH) of Colombo.
Having stepped into the bustling hospital, The ABL team visited Dr. Kapila Banduthilaka, Consultant Vitreoretinal surgeon/ Eye surgeon, amidst his heaving schedule pinching out some time in talking about the impact created with the donated Vitrectomy machine and how it has made a difference to the patients and the doctors.
What kind of an impact has the Vitrectom machine made for National Eye Hospital (NEH) of Colombo?
It has definitely made a positive impact to our patients and to us doctors in terms of convenience. It is easy to maintain and portable when we need to move the machine around the operation theatre to perform surgery.
What is the use of the Vitrectomy machine? How many surgeries have been performed with the donated equipment?
The Vitrectomy machine is used for many surgeries, which includes retinal detachment, traumas, vitreous hemorrhage, diabetic retinopathy complications, intraocular infections (Endophthalmitis), complications of cataract surgeries and many other related surgeries. A large number of such operations are performed every day in the Eye hospital and the Vitrectomy machine is now an essential component of the process.
What is the general duration of these surgeries through the machine?
This depends on cases for instance there may be complications after a cataract surgery where the gel of the eye (Vitreous) can come into the anterior chamber causing acute and chronic complications.; in such cases the Vitrectomy machine is used to operate for about 15 minutes. However, most of the time, the machine is used for about an hour or more per case. Sometimes, a patient may need more than one operation where at times we need to fill the patient’s eye with a special sophisticated silicon oil which is not reactive. The second surgery is then required to remove the oil.
How would you rate the success in utilizing the ABL Vitrectomy machine?
The success rate is very good depending on how dire the case is. For instance, a patient undergoing a cataract surgery may face complications which may result to the patient losing his/her vision; in cases like this, the Vitrectomy machine plays a major role from which the outcome is almost 100% success. The machine is undoubtedly useful and has been very advantageous for the patients and our convenience.
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