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| Dr. K. Bhujang Shetty, Chairman and Managing Director, Narayana Nethralaya and Dr Rohit Shetty, Vice-Chairman, Narayana Nethralaya inaugurated the NOVEL |
NOVEL stands for Narayana Optic Vision Evaluation Laboratory and is the brainchild of Dr Rohit Shetty, Vice-Chairman, Narayana Nethralaya. The lab has state-of-the-art facilities to understand the eye-related anatomy, physiology, histology and genetics of patients. Narayana Nethralaya has invested between Rs 3 crore and Rs 4 crore to set up the lab.
“We have hundreds of patients walking in everyday with unexplained eye problems. Some of these problems are because of changing work culture, office environment and stress. NOVEL will facilitate categorizing such patients depending on their problem and analysing them for appropriate medical intervention,” says Dr. Rohit Shetty.
NOVEL has been in development for the last 18 months. “Our intention was to dedicate this unique and revolutionary research lab on the occasion of the 100th year of the first Nobel Prize for an Ophthalmologist (Medicine) for India. This lab will be a boon for several patients, who are still suffering from unexplained eye problems,” adds Dr. Shetty.
The research facility NOVEL works under the premise “seeing what the patient sees”, i.e. the tools in the lab help Ophthalmologists in understanding how a patient sees the world. “The tools are so advanced that Ophthalmologists can determine the exact vision of the patients. How you see is what we see using the devices. This will enable us to understand the nature of the problem faced by the patients,” points out Dr. Shetty.
Depending on the problem faced by the patient, Ophthalmologists will determine the tests to be carried out on cornea, retina and tear film (liquid layer bathing the cornea and conjunctiva). The lab will also carry out Gene 122 profiling and isolate the hidden gene responsible for the problem in eyes.
Tear film coats the eye; if it is not proper, then it could lead to irregularities and unexplained symptoms. “In recent times, we have found out that tear film is the main reason for people suffering from unexplained eye problems. This is because of exposure of eyes for long hours to computer screens in air-conditioned environment. There is a misconception that using anti-glare monitors will help. NOVEL lab will enable us to explain to our patients all these problems in detail after detailed analysis,” notes Dr. Shetty.
Similarly, growing cause for concern is the increase in eye problems among the young because of deficiency in Vitamin B12, a trend which is going unnoticed. This problem is seen among the young, who consume vegetarian food. “If such problems are not detected in the early stage, it will lead to partial blindness in them. In-depth analysis of such problems needs high-end research. We hope to address all these issues by using the lab facilities,” adds Dr. Shetty.
The lab is open for independent research scholars in the field of Ophthalmology. It enables Narayana Nethralaya to offer all the services, from diagnosis to treatment, under the same roof unlike other hospitals. For select deprived sections of society, the services are free at the hospital.
ABOUT NARAYANA NETHRALAYA
Narayana Nethralaya is a super specialty eye hospital in Bangalore, having three large centers. Started by well-known ophthalmologist Dr K Bhujang Shetty, Narayana Nethralaya is one of the largest tertiary eye care centers in Karnataka providing an advanced level of eye care. Our focus is on applied research in areas such as Stem Cells, Molecular techniques (Polymerase chain reaction), Genetics, Ocular Immunology and infectious diseases. The National Board of examinations, New Delhi has recognized our hospital for training of candidates for the DNB course (Ophthalmology).
http://www.narayananethralaya.org/
Sourced From: Narayana Nethralaya
