The Egmore Eye Hospital, officially the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital, is a public eye hospital in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Considered the oldest eye hospital in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, the institute was established in 1819 and is the second oldest hospital of its kind, next only to the

Moorfields Eye Hospital Moorfields Eye Hospital is a specialist NHS eye hospital in Finsbury in the London Borough of Islington in London, England run by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Together with the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, which is adjacent ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The hospital is associated with the prestigious

Government General Hospital Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital is a major state-owned hospital situated in Chennai, India. The hospital is funded and managed by the state government of Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1664 by the British East India Company, it is the first moder ...

and

Madras Medical College Madras Medical College (MMC) is a public medical college located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established on 2 February 1835, it is the second oldest medical college in India, established after Calcutta Medical College. History The Governme ...

, Chennai and is affiliated to the

Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

History

The hospital was originally founded in the neighbourhood of

Royapettah Royapettah is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Location Royapettah is located at the central part of the city of Chennai, with an elevation of 9 m (29 ft.) above mean sea level. The neighbourhood comes under Teynampet Zone (numbe ...

(on the grounds of the present-day Wesley Church) in 1819 as the Madras Eye Infirmary (MEI). The first to initiate the idea of a hospital was Dr. Travers, a surgeon in London with the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, and in July 1819 Dr. Robert Richardson, another surgeon, came to Madras to establish the hospital. Modelled on

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the hospital expanded under the leadership of Drake Brodeman from 1873. Although established in Royapettah, by 1820, the hospital was shifted to

Egmore Egmore is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Situated on the northern banks of the Coovum River, Egmore is an important residential area as well as a commercial and transportation hub. The Egmore Railway Station was the main terminus of the Madr ...

, where it occupied a tram shed until 1884, when the hospital was shifted to the present-day location, where it became known as the Government Ophthalmic Hospital from 1886. A couple of buildings were built in the premises. A black plaque outside the hospital premises reads: "Government Infirmary for gratuitous treatment of diseases of the eye." Between 1904 and 1913, the hospital expanded under the superintendency of Lieutenant Colonel R. H. Elliot, who is credited for the Elliot's Trephine, an instrument used in

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...

surgery. It was during his tenure that the Lawley Ward, a building that was declared a heritage building by the Archaeological Department of India, was built at the centre of the premises. The Elliot School of Ophthalmology, the first in South India, was established in the hospital in 1919 by Elliot's successor Lieutenant Colonel Kirkpatric. In 1921, the Elliot Ophthalmic Museum was opened by Kirkpatric's successor Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Wright. Both of these were named after R. H. Elliot. The museum's holdings include an 1829 painting of an affected eye, sketches of tropical eye diseases by earlier practitioners, several 19th-century specimens of affected eyes and case registers (dating back to 1819), and centuries-old medical instruments. In 1940, K. Koman Nayar was appointed the hospital first Indian superintendent, who is remembered for building the Iris Repositor at the hospital. In 1942, the medical school started offering a post-graduate diploma program in ophthalmology. In 1948, India's first eye bank was opened here by the then superintendent R. E. S. Muthayya. With its opening, the hospital had an entire block dedicated for eye bank. It is believed that Muthayya was the first to perform a

keratoplasty Corneal transplantation, also known as corneal grafting, is a surgical procedure where a damaged or diseased cornea is replaced by donated corneal tissue (the graft). When the entire cornea is replaced it is known as penetrating keratoplasty ...

. In 1960, an old garden house opposite the old campus was obtained to build its nurses' quarters. In 1962, the School of Optometry started functioning inside the campus. The hospital began to employ microscopes for surgeries when E. T. Selvam first used one. The hospital became a Regional Institute in 1985 under the National Programme for Control of Blindness. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

recognized the hospital as a centre of excellence following which government ophthalmologists from all over the country arrive at the hospital to undergo training.

Description

With support from the

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , ...

of Chennai District 324 A (an organized and separate eye bank that co-ordinates with the doctors, paramedical team and community support) workers ensure a 24-hour eye donation and eye banking service. Training programmes offered include short-term exam-oriented training for diploma in National Board Exams.

Courses offered

* MS (Ophthalmology) and DO (Diploma in Ophthalmology) - Post-graduate courses after MBBS * Optometry: Diploma in Optometry and BSc Optometry

Citations

References

* * *

External links