Subraj Foundation collaborates with GPHC to ship corneas for transplant surgery

Feb 08, 2018 News

Diagram explaining the stages of corneal transplant process.

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC] is currently the beneficiary of corneas for transplant surgeries through a shipping arrangement made possible by the United States based Subraj Family Foundation.
The Foundation is one that has been catering to the corneal transplant needs of the GPHC for a few years now. Efforts in this regard are being sustained and even expanded.
Corneal transplantation, also known as corneal grafting, is a surgical procedure where a damaged or diseased cornea is replaced by donated corneal tissue.
Speaking with this publication recently, Subraj’s son, Tony Subraj, revealed that a move has been embraced whereby corneas can be sent to Guyana even if a visiting team from the Foundation is not visiting Guyana. The Foundation has over the years been known to send, on an annual basis, a team, including medical officials, to lend support to the GPHC. The visiting team has also brought along corneas on a number of occasions.
However, towards the end of 2017, during November and December 2017, a trial of shipping corneas to Guyana was successful allowing for three further corneal transplants to be done by local surgeons, Dr. Shailendra Sugrim and Dr. Celeste Hinds at the GPHC.
This brought the total corneal transplants, facilitated by the Subraj Family Foundation, by the end of last year to 60.
But the Subraj Family Foundation has not abandoned its visits to Guyana. In fact, at the start of this month, a visiting team from the Foundation was able to provide a further three corneal tissues which were again transplanted by the local surgeons at GPHC on February 1 and February 2, last.
This development has allowed for the number of successful corneal transplants to mount to 63.
Dr. Joseph Pasternak, the visiting US Corneal Specialist Surgeon who trained the local surgeons to conduct the transplants, was a part of the visiting team.
He was present during the surgeries done on Friday February 2 and expressed satisfaction with how the local surgeons are progressing in terms of their respective performance.
Against the background of the competent performance of local surgeons and nurses, the visiting team presented a proposal to the GPHC and the Ministry of Public Health to have a continuous supply of cornea tissues that will be shipped in a regular schedule. This move is expected to pave the way to have corneal transplant surgeries performed on a regular basis at GPHC.
The team also discussed and urged the need to initiate passing legislation towards donor harvesting in Guyana. Once these hurdles are crossed, moves towards setting up a local eye bank in Guyana can become a reality.
The Corneal Transplant mission is entirely funded by the Subraj Family Foundation, which was founded by the late George Subraj. His children and family are continuing in his footsteps by making these yearly missions to Guyana.
The team assists in procuring the corneal tissues from the United States and donates consumables and other equipment that are necessary for the successful transplant surgeries at GPHC.
The six patients who underwent successful transplants in November – December 2017 have expressed appreciation to the Subraj Family Foundation for allowing them the opportunity to have these procedures done in Guyana free of cost.
According to Dr. Sugrim, the Head, Department of Ophthalmology, GPHC continues to foster the relationship with the Foundation in an effort to provide Corneal Transplant Services to the Guyanese public.

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