Dr Deepak Sawant, Minister of State for Public Health and Family Welfare, launched a statewide retinopathy of prematurity project at Aundh district hospital here. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the leading causes of blindness in premature infants in India. The Public Health Foundation of India, in association with the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, UK, is spearheading the project to address the growing public health problem across India. Pune’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) and H V Desai Eye hospitals have pledged their support to the project. Together, they will train staff to screen for ROP and provide support services and conduct research to prevent ROP in the state. This project will be implemented in five districts hospitals in the state - Pune, Thane, Nasik, Osmanabad and Nagpur. Dr Archana Patil, Additional Director, Health Services, Maharashtra; Dr GVS Murthy, Director, Indian Institute of Public Health; Nitin Desai, chairman and Col. (Retd.) Madan Deshpande, Chief Medical Director of PBMA’s H V Desai Hospital were present at the launch. KEM hospital will train neonatologists, paediatricians and nurses at the district hospitals and H V Desai hospital will mentor ophthalmologists in screening and treatment of ROP. Under the project, every premature baby weighing less than 2 kg or born at or before 34 weeks of gestation will be screened for ROP within 30 days after birth. If ROP is detected, the project will aim to provide treatment within 48 hours. The project is also being run in Telangana, Odisha, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), caused by damage to the retina, can lead to total and irreversible blindness in preterm babies. The ROP project aims to prevent vision loss by raising awareness about this condition.
