Delhi: Cases of retina ailment rising among infants

New Delhi: Sudhir Kumar, 37, has been making the rounds of AIIMS with his premature infant for the past few days. Mr Kumar had earlier lost his two infants to different diseases and his happiness had no bounds with the birth of his baby. His happiness was, however, short lived, as a few days later after the birth, when the baby was keeping sick, the nursing home advised him for a eye-screening, following which the infant was found to have Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP). 

RoP is a condition of the retina of the eye, which affects pre-term and low birth weight babies, who are usually sick. In a baby born premature, the blood vessels have not yet formed in a part of the retina, leading to retinal detachment and blindness in many cases. 

“The doctors said if not treated now, it will lead to complete blindness. We were very worried,” he said. The father just got the baby’s laser treatment done and he is recovering. Doctors said that a lot of out-born premature babies are reporting blind to tertiary care centres like AIIMS when they reach the last stage, what is known as advanced RoP. 

“The number of RoP cases have increased in the last few years with more and more premature babies being detected for the condition and many of them coming to the hospital only in the last stage, where treatment does not always succeed. This is happening mostly because there is a lack of awareness and also poor facilities in various hospitals,” said Dr Atul Kumar, chief and professor of ophthalmology, R.P. Centre, AIIMS. Currently, the RoP clinic at AIIMS sees around 10 cases on a monthly basis.