"Without H.V. Desai Hospital and Cognizant Foundation our son would’ve gone blind.”

One of the happiest moments in any married couple’s life is when they become parents. For the Zayeds, however, the joy was quickly replaced by anxiety.

Residents of Satara, Maharashtra, Mrs. and Mr. Zayed* were the happiest people in town when the pregnancy was confirmed. Even though they were not well-off, Mr. Zayed did his best to make sure that his wife was made as comfortable as possible. He had lost his job because of the pandemic and was working as a daily-wage labourer earning a meagre 400 rupees a day. This was not enough to support his pregnant wife and widowed mother, but they made do in the hopes of being blessed with a healthy and happy child.

When she was 7 months pregnant, Mrs. Zayed was rushed to the local government hospital with sharp abdominal pain where she was recommended immediate C-section. The baby boy was born pre-term at 30 weeks and weighed only 1,500 grams. Due to the infant’s poor health condition, there was a dire need for intensive care, and he was shifted to a private NICU. The little soul had developed respiratory distress syndrome, jaundice and anaemia which required comprehensive medical assistance.

After 17 days of treatment, the baby was stable and ready to get discharged. When Mr. Zayed went to the billing counter with a few notes he had managed to arrange, he was shocked to see the six-digit bill that had accrued. Faced with no alternative, he had to borrow at a high interest rate from a money lender to make the payment.

At discharge, the paediatrician advised getting the baby’s eyes checked for ROP at District Hospital, Satara (DHS) where regular screening is done by the team from H.V. Desai Eye Hospital (HVDEH) as part of the project supported by Cognizant Foundation.

The baby was assessed and ROP was confirmed in both eyes, with the right being severe. Immediate treatment was given at DHS and the baby was shifted to HVDEH, Pune to further care. Amidst the uncertainties, Mr. Zayed was worried about one thing – the treatment costs. With a spluttering speech, he explained about his debilitating debt and asked the team about the costs of the ROP treatment. When he learnt that the entire procedure would be free, he was overwhelmed with happiness.

Baby Zayed underwent laser surgery on both eyes within 24 hours of visiting HVDEH. Since ROP was severe in the right eye, a second bout of surgery was required which was done a week later. The baby is now recovering well and is on his way to a bright future.

“Without H.V. Desai Hospital and Cognizant Foundation our son would’ve gone blind. Your support came at a crucial time and I will forever be grateful for it,” Mr. Zayed said.

*Name changed to protect patient privacy

"A tragedy has been averted today and many babies have been saved from a lifetime of blindness thanks to LVPEI and Cognizant Foundation."

The day started like most other days for the paediatrician in MKCG Medical College Hospital in Behampur, Odisha. He had made a rough plan of how his day was going to pan out and the patients he had to check up on. But just as he was going to start his morning rounds, he received a frantic phone call from the ophthalmologist at the medical college – there were 11 babies in the hospital that day who were at imminent risk of blindness due to severe ROP!

Apart from being born premature, the babies also had other conditions which affected their health including septicaemia, respiratory distress and arrhythmia. All of them were on oxygen support in the NICU and some even had had multiple blood transfusions.

L.V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in Bhubaneswar was the closest hospital equipped to treat ROP. However, the health condition of the babies meant that transporting them over the 170-odd kilometres which separated the two cities would be extremely risky. The paediatrician from Berhampur decided to contact LVPEI anyway to ask for their help.

As soon as the call came in, the ROP Mobile Unit at LVPEI swung into action. The unit, created with support from Cognizant Foundation, is well-equipped to travel to remote areas and provide effective treatment. The team rushed to Berhampur and within a few hours, the babies were screened and ROP re-confirmed. Emergency assistance to arrest the spread of ROP was given then and there through intraocular injections for babies needing treatment. Once the babies were strong enough to travel, follow-up care was provided at the LVPEI campus in Bhubaneswar.

The parents of the babies and the paediatric staff were relieved knowing that the kids would be all-right, and thanked LVPEI and Cognizant Foundation for promptly delivering skilful services. “There is nothing worse than the helplessness you feel when you see infants with a preventable, blindness-causing disease and you know that you don’t have the equipment to save them. A tragedy has been averted today and many babies have been saved from a lifetime of blindness thanks to LVPEI and Cognizant Foundation. Initiatives like this truly change the world in small, yet significant ways,” a healthcare professional at Berhampur said.