The MIOT International Total Eye Care Hospital in Seychelles, which opened in January, is satisfied with its operation for the past six months and remains committed to fulfilling its patients' right to healthy sight, a top official said.

The managing director of MIOT International, Dr. Prithvi Mohandas, made the statement during an event held at Eden Bleu last Friday to mark its six-month anniversary.

Inaugurated on January 14, the MIOT International Total Eye Care Seychelles hospital, saw its first patient on January 17.

Mohandas said that as at the end of June, the hospital had seen 626 new patients, reviewed 1,308 former patients and performed around 140 procedures including lasers and cataract procedures.

"In the first three months the number of procedures per week was building up slowly but in the last three months, it picked up so that almost 50 percent of the work was done in the last three months," he explained.

MIOT International Total Eye Care is described as a one-stop destination for all ophthalmological needs and has state-of-the-art equipment and a team of ophthalmologists and optometrists from India and Seychelles.

The hospital has a partnership with a local optical care centre, Visus Optical, managed by Lisa Chetty, now the manager of the MIOT International Total Eye Care.

Possibility of expanding health care treatment to cancer care

He said now that the eye care treatment centre is up and running successfully, MIOT International is considering introducing other treatments, and "depending on how the investments flow in, it is possible that cancer care will be the next step in Seychelles." 

MIOT International Total Eye Care has been relieved from the burden to generate huge funds to pay for high value services or high salaried staff as all this is subsidised by the main hospital in Chennai, India.

"As a result of this protocol, MIOT India has passed on a saving of $250,000 from January to June 2022 to the people of Seychelles," he added.

At Friday's event participants also got an overview of the development of eye health care in Seychelles through a presentation by Dr Roland Barbe, head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Victoria Hospital. Barbe said that around 5,378 patients had eye consultations last year.

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, and MIOT International have a partnership spanning over two decades and over 8,000 local patients have already undergone treatment at their hospital in Chennai, India.