Services – Mahanadi Netra Chikitsalaya

Base Hospital (MNC) Service

The Base Hospital is currently a secondary level set-up and providing curative, preventive and corrective services to the people with eye problems. It is having 2 major service departments such as (1) Outpatient Department and (2) Surgery Department (Operation Theatre and In-patient ward). There is an optical department dispensing spectacles and a medicine dispensing department.

The Base Hospital (MNC) has most of the advanced diagnostic and treatment/surgery equipment’s with a committed team of ophthalmologists and supporting staff. Following are the services currently available/ offered at the MNC:

Cataract: Small incision Cataract Surgery, Phacoemulsification, YagCapsulotomy.
Glaucoma: Surgical and Medical Care, Peripheral Iridectomy
Other surgeries: DCT, DCR, Pterygium, Lid Surgery, Evisceration & Prosthesis, Squint Surgery, Enucleating with Silicon Implantation, Repair of eye injuries
Refraction Services:Identification of refractive error, Spectacle provision

Outreach Diagnostic Camp in communities

Outreach Diagnostic Camps in communities are an extension activity of the project to reach the un-reached in the rural and remote communities and the objectives are:

Vision Center Services

Currently, the project runs 6 vision centers and one city center in different districts as part of the outreach strategy. The objectives of the vision center are:

To offer primary eye-care services to the targeted population
To create awareness and educate the community on general health and eye health promotion
To establish a population-based eye care surveillance system
To increase the uptake of eye-care services among the rural masses

Vision Technicians (one for each centre) are placed there to look after primary eye-care services, spectacle dispensing and support staffs (one for each centre) for community eye health education and screening activities.

School Screening Programme

Activities such as eye health education in schools, teachers training, screening in schools, spectacle provision and referrals are undertaken under this strategy. Teachers are identified and trained so that they can conduct the first level screening in their schools and identify students with eye problems. After the second level screening the students identified with refractive errors are provided spectacles. Those who identified with major problems and needing higher level interventions are referred to the MNC.

Health Education Programme and Propaganda

This strategy has been designed to increase the awareness of the communities, specifically the rural illiterate communities, women and children to improve the eye health-seeking behaviour and self/community referrals to outreach camps and also the base hospital. Electronic audio-visual shows, street plays, women group discussions, school health educations, display of banners, posters and the distributions of leaf-lets are the various modes used by the project to disseminate the relevant messages. In addition, MNC undertakes sensitisation activities for the leaders, volunteers, grass-root service providers and organisations. The project has adopted QUEST methodology and developed contextual IEC materials to be used in different health education activities.

Networking and Advocacy

The project networks with local NGOs and CBOs and other stakeholders in the areas of outreach activities and health education. It also carries out advocacy initiatives with the district health system and education department for case referral and improving support system.

Staff Capacity and Ensuring Quality of Services

The Staff are sent for need-based training programmes to improve their performances as well as to contribute to quality service delivery. The project also has adopted a strategy of taking local youth as trainees and providing them in-house hands- on training. Further, the project conducts time to time clinical reviews on its own and supported by Sightsavers and also patients’ satisfaction survey to ensure the quality of services.

The hospital offers free treatment to more than 60 per cent of the patients, while the user fee is paid by those who can afford it. The institution is empanelled under RashtriyaSwasthyaBimaYojana (National level health insurance scheme for the families below the poverty line) and BijuKrushakKalyanYojana (the state level insurance scheme for farmers) has added value in the efforts of generating funds towards service sustainability. Under this, the insurance holders/beneficiaries get cost less service and MNC gets reimbursements under these insurance schemes through TPA.

The project has also introduced different sustainable strategies like philanthropic schemes such as ‘Dristidan’, ‘Annadan’ and ‘Chasamadan’. Dristidan-Donation is Rs.2,000/- (Rupees two thousand only) per case towards the cost of cataract or glaucoma surgery. Annadan- Donation is Rs. 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only) towards the cost of food for 30 patients per day. Chasamadan- amounts to a donation of Rs.500/- towards the cost of a spectacle for a poor patient. The project also encourage donations in kind and has got blankets, rice and electronic items such as television, fridge etc. A rest house also has been donated by a local philanthropist who constructed the same in the MNC campus.

The Project intended to develop a model of comprehensive eye-care services gradually and also be the preferred eye-care hospital in Western Orissa; a centre of excellence providing accessible, affordable, quality eye-care services in a sustainable manner, regardless of economic situation, which will make quality eye-care services accessible to the poorest of the poor.

The project is an ISO certified institution &very shortly going to be declared as a NABH accredited eye care institution. Since its inception, the project never compromises with the quality aspect and adhered with the standard protocols prescribed for maintaining & monitoring the service delivery quality. The ever increasing patient load is the testimonial of our quality services which attracts patients from far distances even from state of Chhattisgarh.