Keratoplasty

Keratoplasty .. A Way To a Better Life Assiut Students' Scientific Association ASSA Assiut

We are a group of students that pursue the right of one to retain vision .. Let's help others to live better life and enjoy the beauty of what Allah creates .. Let's help others to believe that we doctors are working for the sake of patients' healthy life

Mahmoud Saad Assiut Students' Scientific Association

Assiut Students' Scientific Association |

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Assiut University Conrea Bank Project title

Support our team in spreading the awareness among people to donate their corneas after death. Provide free corneas or corneas with low prices for poor patients in a way to help them retaining their vision. Support Assiut University Faculty of Medicine new eye surgery center.

Aim

Assiut Students' Scientific Association ( NGO ) Applicant

Conferences Awareness Campaigns Facebook fan pages

Publication methods

October, 1st 2011 – March, 1st 2012 Timeline

Mahmoud Saad ASSA-Assiut Local Public Health Officer IFMSA-Egypt SCOPH Exchange National Coordinator Mobile: +2 011 317 2553 +2 010 416 5260 Email: [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mai Salah E.Sabra Project Coordinator Assiut Students' Scientific Association Mobile: +2 010 812 3872 Email: [email protected]

Contact info

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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Assiut Students' Scientific Association, founded on the year 1986 under supervision of Dr/ Mahmoud Hamdy Abdel Rahiem. We are a group of Medical students in Assiut University, one of the biggest Universities in Egypt. We are considered to be the biggest students' group in our University ASSA is a member of the International Federation of Medical Students' Association - Egypt (IFMSA - EGYPT) which is a member of the International Federation of Medical Students' Association (IFMSA). It is a Non-Governmental Association related to the World Health Organization (WHO) a branch of the United Nations (UN).

Our mission is to offer future physicians a comprehensive introduction to global health issues. Through our programming and opportunities, we develop culturally sensitive students of medicine, intent on influencing the trans-national inequalities that shape the health of our planet.

We have activities on both our Local side as being a Student group in our Faculty, And on the International Side as being a member of the International Federation of Medical Students' Association (IFMSA). Upon our University activities, ASSA is usually the organizing committee for Medical Conferences, besides our leisure activities for our members including Seminars and Trips touring all over Egypt. Student Exchange programs and the Summer Schools are considered to be our most important international activities, as we host groups of foreign Medical Students annually affording them Residence, meals and Medical training in their desired fields according to the regulations of the IFMSA.


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1. To be a forum for medical students around the world to discuss topics related to health, education and medicine; to formulate policies from such discussions and to carry out appropriate activities.

2. To act as a mechanism for medical students' professional and scientific exchange and projects.

3. To be a body through which cooperation and contacts with other international organizations are established. Empowering medical students in using their knowledge and capacities for the benefit of society.

4. Providing a forum for medical students to discuss topics related to individual and community

health, education and science and to formulate policies from such discussions.

5. Promoting and facilitating professional and scientific exchanges as well as projects and trainings for medical students, thereby sensitizing them to other cultures and societies and their health problems.

6. Providing a link between us and members, medical students' associations and international

organizations, and to encourage the co-operation for the ultimate benefit of society.


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The department of Ophthalmology, Assiut University hospital is the biggest ophthalmic facility in southern Egypt. It is oldest University Hospital in the Egyptian south. It is the most credible referral center there. It serves a population of 20 million. The departments treats the most complicated cases including , all kinds of advanced ocular infections, severe ocular traumas, difficult glaucomas and strabismus cases, complicated pediatric and vitreoretinal procedures, as well as daily routine eye care tasks . Most medical services, including surgery and inpatient procedures are free of charge. Many of the doctors of the staff of the department received the highest level of training in the different ophthalmic subspecialties in the most prestigious institutes in the USA, the UK, Denmark and India, In addition to their competent ophthalmic training here in Assiut. However, the department is now facing the many serious problems withholding it from achieving its full potentials in delivering the expected optimum ophthalmic service. On the top of those challenges is the space. The current department is only few wards and rooms among a large general hospital, with no chance of expansion. Meeting those challenges ,the University recently approved a plan for building a separate eye center fully dedicated for ophthalmology. The new eye center is expected to meet all the expectation of delivering the highest possible standards of medical care to the ophthalmic patients, mostly for free .The new center is expected to include fully equipped outpatient clinics ,surgical wards, investigation center, a lab, inpatient wards, lecture rooms, a library and a research center.


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1. 700.000 of Egyptians need Keratoplasty operation in 2008.

2. 10.000 patients are supposed to wait 20 years in long queues in Al Kasr Al Ainy hospital to do the operation.

3. The number of patients increases by 1500 : 2000 per year.

4. Egypt has only one bank for manufacturing artificial corneas and it produces only 2 or 3 corneas per month!

5. The price of corneas, we export from outside, reaches 1500 : 3000 $ however, the actual cost in

Egypt is 350-500 L.E.

6. Most of the corneas exported from outside are not subjected to the specifications of quality and safety.

7. Corneas obtained from Asia have been reported to be infected with HCV! which is considered to be a disaster for the patient.

1. It’s not the only problem for organs transplantation in Egypt, but the whole problem can be solved by changing beliefs of major part of the society.

2. Corneas can be obtained 2 : 8 hours after death unlike other organs which need preserved blood circulation within the organ.

3. The whole cost for the operation is low and can be afforded by most of the patients.

4. It’s the only solution for poor patients, who don’t have enough money to do the operation abroad, to preserve their vision and help them to retain their normal activities.

5. For Keratoplasty, graft rejection by the body is 5-30 % and it increases in the second operation.

6. Complications may be in the form of photophobia, blephrospasm, glaucoma and astigmatism.

7. These controllable complications may annoy the patient after the operation; however most of

the patients feel happy after retaining back their vision.


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8. The success rate of keratoplasty as a treatment for corneal dystrophy is always high and for the problems resulting from the new cornea, we must be aware that they are much better than the sharp loss of vision caused by corneal damage.

Cornea donation awareness campaigns is the only method to change the behavior and beliefs of a major part of the population towards a critical issue in the field of ophthalmology generally and keratoplasty particularly Our target is beyond the medical students and the educated part of the community. We have to reach people in their work and their small villages to convince them to donate their corneas before death in a way to save one's eye and vision

1- Raise the awareness among people about the importance and the critical need of having corneas bank in the new eye center.

2- Convince people to donate their corneas after death.

3- Change the wrong religious beliefs about major part of the population concerning organs donation.

4- Increase the demand of having a political decision that allows corneal donation based on religious references.

5- Development of the surgical techniques and places related to ophthalmology.

6- Training of the medical personnel who'll be in charge of working at the new eye surgery center.

7- Involvement of other governmental and non-governmental organizations who work for the sake of better health services.

8- Increase the demand of hygiene in general.


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1- Major awareness campaigns in different regions of the country.

2- Posters

3- Banners

4- Flyers

5- Conferences

6- Channels with newspapers and media

Keratoplasty

Documents

Transcript of Keratoplasty