“Glaucoma is highly under-diagnosed disease. Most of the comprehensive ophthalmologists are not able to diagnose Glaucoma properly which I was also facing in few cases.”, told Dr. Mazhar Naseem during our interaction with him at Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital (SCEH), Delhi. Dr. Mazhar completed the Orbis supported the months Glaucoma observership at Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital in May 2022 and is currently working as a Consultant at one of the secondary centers of Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital.
33 years old, Mazhar belongs to remote rural village of Basti, near Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, where there is a dearth of trained ophthalmologists and eye care professionals, leading to poor eye care services. “I have seen many patients suffer, and many would go visually impaired due to lack of timely intervention. I chose ophthalmology to help some of these patients. Subsequently, while I was practicing my comprehensive ophthalmology, I realized the need to enhance my clinical skills, particularly for certain eye conditions like Glaucoma. It is highly under-diagnosed, especially in the population which I cater to in Uttar Pradesh.” Dr. Mazhar chose to take up Glaucoma as his sub-speciality and fill in the wide service gap.
He came to know about the observership program at SCEH through his seniors in medical college back home. As part of the observership, Dr. Mazhar was involved in observing numerous Glaucoma surgeries, seeking mentorship from Consultant at the OPDs, observing and treating patients, and practicing trabeculectomy surgery in the Orbis supported Digital Training Hub (DTH). Powered by state of art wet lab facilities, the digital training hub offers high quality simulation and distance education training. The DTHs are providing enhanced ophthalmic education to ophthalmologists, ophthalmologists-in-training, ophthalmic nurses and anesthesiologists in the eye department at SCEH.
Every participant who joins the observership/ fellowship, supported by Orbis are mentored by Glaucoma specialists at SCEH, who closely monitor the progress and learnings of each participant. Sharing his experience and learnings, Dr. Mazhar says, “The trainers here are very dedicated and focused. If you are lacking in some area, they will try to help you acquire that skill, even if it is one of the basic concepts. Thanks to them, I have improved my gonioscopy and plan of management in various types of secondary Glaucoma. I have seen many new techniques adopted by various consultants.” Working at the secondary center has also helped him in gaining more insights on how to manage Glaucoma. “It is a great observership, a progressive program which can drive career growth opportunity for residents/ ophthalmologists. I will definitely recommend it to my colleagues and juniors.”
Dr. Mazhar is eager to leverage his expertise in near future. Sharing about his future plans, he said, “I will continue working as a consultant for few more years, but eventually I will go back to my native place and serve the community. In my place, we don’t even have a cataract surgeon, and most ophthalmologists are not trained to undertake a phaco surgery. I want to go back and train others, perform surgeries and help Glaucoma patients.”