The Opening of Qatar International Pediatric Ophthalmology conference of Al Ahli Hospital held at Diplomatic Club on Thursday. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
DOHA: Healthcare experts have called for a massive awareness campaign to detect eye problems among children in early stages in a bid to provide timely and better treatment.
“Children of all age groups up to 17 years are required to undergo six eye screenings throughout their childhood,” Dr. Gangaprasad Amula, Specialist (Ophthalmologist) at Al Ahli Hospital told The Peninsula on the sidelines of Qatar International Pediatric Ophthalmology Conference.
A one and a half day conference first of its kind in Qatar was organised by Al Ahli Hospital under the theme of “unlocking the potential of a child’s eye” at the Royal-Tent of Diplomatic Club.
Dr. Gangaprasad Amula said that first eye screening should be at birth, the second one should be conducted before the first birthday celebration of the child, the third one in pre-schooler aged between 3 and 3 ½ , fourth when the child is in school, fifth one at puberty and sixth one in adolescent at the age of adulthood (16-18 years).
“The children should undergo the routine eye screening regardless of any symptom or problem as will kid will never raise any complaints,” said Dr. Amula adding that pediatric ophthalmology is one of the most ignored field of healthcare which requires a massive campaign to create awareness among parents and healthcare practitioners.
He said that the conference is an initiative of Al Ahli Hospital aimed at discussing pediatric eye-related problems, its symptoms, diagnosis, and management.
He said that the sessions of the conference were designed to engage each and every person who are involved in health care management that not only includes doctors but also allied practitioner e.g. nurses, optometrist, so that they are more aware and sensitive to the issues.
The conference addressed from most common eye problems like redness, glasses and lazy eye to relatively rare problems like pediatric cataract.
Speaking about the readiness of Pediatric Ophthalmology Unit of Al Ahli Hospital, Dr. Amula said: “The Unit is fully equipped with all machines required for pediatric eye care to provide a complete treatment.”
He said that the unit with the support of the management and chief of Staff Dr. Abdul Azim have invested and procured latest technology currently available in the market like RetCam which can capture the image of the inside of the eye and show the parents the problems involved in their kids' eye.
“We also have to open to check intraocular pressure, indirect ophthalmoscopy for the comprehensive eye examination,” said Dr. Amula.
“A number of healthcare practitioners from Al Ahli Hospital, Ahmad Hospital, Sidra Medicine and from India participated in the Qatar International Pediatric Ophthalmology Conference,” said Dr. Hywd Touaibia, Associate Consultant at Al Ahli Hospital.
She said that the conference discussed key challenges in pediatric eye care in several separate sessions for example retinopathy of prematurity; the importance of screening and recent dances in the management of ROP.
