Ahmedabad, 18 December,2019: The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) supported the Workshop on Medical Equipment for Amblyopia Treatment in Children held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat as part of JICA’s private sector participation project being implemented by Yaguchi Electric Corporation in collaboration with Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
The goal of workshop was to enhance the technical and medical best practices in field of ophthalmology. The workshop focused on exchange of ideas, technical upgradations and best practices in the field which can be imbibed in India towards benefiting infants and children.
The workshop was attended by Prof. Hansa Thakkar, M&J Institute, Associate Professor Dr. Vaishali Prajapati, Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, and Ophthalmologists and Optometrists from Eye Care hospitals in India to share the case study and how to use the advanced equipment for Amblyopia Treatment with guidance from Professor Dr. Tomoya Handa of Kitasato University and Yaguchi Electric Corporation.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Koichi Ogyu, Senior Representative, JICA India said, Yaguchi Electric Corporation has been committed keenly to this project since 2018 through JICA’s Feasibility Study. A basic trial was conducted at the cooperative hospitals to test the effectiveness of vision training tablet. The success of which brought Yaguchi Electric to launching an extensive trial as JICA supported “Verification Survey for Amblyopia Treatment in Children in India” with an objective for building future distribution chain to reach patients in need of care. JICA is facilitating treatment of Amblyopia in children, enabling their “right to sight”. JICA’s vision is in line with the National Program for Control of Blindness (NPCB), which aims to improve primary care for proper vision.”
Amblyopia, having typical symptoms of Strabismus develops in 3% of newborn babies irrespective of race or nationality could tell us that number of patients increase in proportion to population which is to say, India has sizable potential patients. The human visual cortex stops growing at about 8 years of age, making it difficult for children to recover from amblyopia post 8. Therefore, children grow up with Amblyopia and in many cases live their entire lives with it. In order to bring out solution for the situation, JICA is facilitating treatment for the condition and is enabling the younger generation to lead better lives. JICA is helping expand use of Occlu-Pad33® vision training tablet produced by Yaguchi Electric Corporation to treat amblyopia in India in order to help them regain their eyesight with supportive devices for screening of children with Amblyopia and subsidiary training product to improve the system comprehensively on early identification and management. This will increase their learning and future employment opportunities, raising standard of living. The new equipment will have better results in comparison to the conventional method of shielding the eye, which leaves the patients susceptible to skin rashes and deterioration of vision in the healthy eye.
JICA aims to achieve universal healthcare through public and private partnerships between India and Japan by providing Official Development Assistance loans in India, summing up to 42.5 billion Japanese Yen, approximately INR 2,656 Crore, extended since 1995/96. Currently, JICA is contributing the health sector through their Grant Aid Project of advanced OPD construction at Chennai Children Hospital and loan project of Tamil Nadu Urban Healthcare Project (TNUHP) to scale-up access to the quality healthcare for all in a very close collaboration with H&FW, Government of Tamil Nadu.
