Malini Verrappan, a third year medical student with an interest in ophthalmology and currently doing research with retinal specialist Cynthia Toth, MD on age-related macular degeneration has opened an eye clinic in India. Verrappan was moved to work toward opening a eye clinic while an intern at Indian hospitals. "During several internships at hospitals in India, I was disheartened by the number of patients who visited the eye hospital with vision loss from conditions that were easily treatable or preventable, if detected at an earlier stage. I also realized the disproportionate burden of eye diseases in developing countries, and addressing this burden requires an understanding of both medical and social barriers."
In collaboration with the Aravind Eye Care System, Verrappan established a sustainable eye clinic in Rayavaram, Tamilnadu, India to improve eye care accessibility for over 76K rural, medically underserved people. The eye clinic inaugural event will be held on January 22, 2016. This project represents 5 years of development, which included, but was not limited to:
-Donating our ancestral home to serve as the new eye clinic site
-On-ground publicity for eye care services and health education
-Collecting funds and eyeglass donations from U.S based organizations
-Identifying underprivileged females from the local community to enroll in Aravind Hospital’s 2-year free health technician training
"My long term goals are to raise awareness about this service, expand its outreach, share a model for eye care delivery, and demonstrate a global need that others can work to fulfill," said Veerappan.