P3.I162: Establishment of the First Ever Pediatric Eye Clinic in the Indian state of Tripura with American Academy of Pediatrics grant funding. A Program Evaluation.

Background: The northeastern state of Tripura has an area of 6500 square miles and a population of 3.6 million, of which 74% live in the rural areas. Lack of funding for infrastructure, remoteness of the regions, and acute shortage of ophthalmologists are reasons behind scarce eye care facilities in the state. When writing this article, Tripura had 24 ophthalmologists catering to the needs of 3.6 million residents without any dedicated Eye clinic for children. Children's Vision problems must be addressed promptly to avoid limitations of communication, play, reading, and learning, and ultimately, their long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. Through funding provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) - International Community Access to Child Health (ICATCH) program, this project was initiated as the first eye clinic exclusively for children in Tripura.

Methods: This is a descriptive program evaluation of a new pediatric eye clinic in the setting of a semi-urban hospital affiliated with a medical school in the suburbs of the capital of the state, Agartala. The clinic was inaugurated on 12th November 2021. The children are evaluated in the clinic for free. If needed, patients are not charged for testing or eyeglasses to correct refractive errors. The team conducted health camps in renowned high schools, which evaluated children and provided them with necessary medications/eyeglasses for free. Workshops were also conducted in this period to raise awareness about common pediatric eye diseases with particular emphasis on the timing of referral to the ophthalmologist, attended by community health workers, medical students, nurses, and optometrists from different parts of the state.

Results: Since its inception, 1525 children visited the eye clinic, with an average visitation of 46 patients per month. The median age of the patients was 4.6 years (Range: 1 month to 17 years). Conjunctivitis was the most common diagnosis made in the clinic (58%), followed by refractive error (10.2%), while Nasolacrimal duct blockage and blunt trauma, both at 6.8%, were the third most common diagnoses (Table 1). Allergic conjunctivitis was the most common form of conjunctivitis (69.3%). Free medications were provided to 1280 children (83.9%), while free refractive correction eyeglasses were provided to 164 (10.7%) children. In the four school eye checkup camps conducted by the group so far, 645 children were evaluated, and 119 prescription eyeglasses were provided free of cost to the children. In the five workshops, 36, 60, 48, 25, and 30 participants participated.

Conclusion: A dedicated pediatric eye clinic was successfully established with AAP ICATCH small grant funding, impacting the children's health in its first 18 months.