A specialised eye centre in Kenya

An outpatient facility will be manned by an eye specialist. A diagnostic section will offer services to our patients, other ophthalmologists and eye hospitals in Kenya and the region.The eye theatre will be offer the full range of eye surgeries.

The centre will also initiate and support a national diabetic eye outreach program to serve poor patients in the country supported in part by the eye centre and in part through fundraising.

1. Lack of specialised eye diagnositic equipment.
2. Lack of a modern well equipped eye theatre in the private health sector in Nairobi, Kenya and the region.
3. Lack of certain specialised eye surgeries.

1. Setting up a diagnostic center and eye clinic in a central location with easy access by private and public transport.
2. Setting up of a modern eye theatre equipped to world standards.
3. Provision of specialised eye services and surgeries through a network of selected eye specialists.
4. Setting up an outreach service to reach the bottom of the pyramid patients who face barriers of distance and cost to the eye centre.

UHEAL will market its services to ophthalmologists and other eye care providers. We will be engaging the media to roll out a community awareness program on the leading blinding diseases and what can be done about them. Educational brochures dealing with eye diseases and services offered at UHEAL will placed is stragetic locations e.g banks, supermarkets & pharmacies. We will partner with the government and churches in the outreach program.

Our market includes:
1. Patients 40yrs and above who need annual eye checks.
2. Diabetic patients who develop eye complications.
3. Glacucoma patients who need regular follow-up.
4. Patients needing specialised eye surgery e.g. cataract surgery
5. Children with eye diseases.
6. Eye hospitals and eye care givers in Kenya and East Africa region who lack the specialised equipment availabe at the UHEAL.

Competition will come from existing eye hospitals in Kenya and private eye clinics. It will also come from eye facilities in India and South Africa, where majority of patient are referred to. The 2 leading eye hospitals in Kenya are donor driven and focus on the indigent population. The other is the national referral hospital, a government funded institution characterised by mismanagement and chronic shortages of drugs, equipment and staff.

The Sub-specialty skill offered at the centre is not available elsewhere. The diagnostic equipment is not easy to acquire. The services are much cheaper compared to India or South Africa.

There is no similar eye care model in East and Central Africa. We aim to provide world class eye care to a market segment able and willing to pay a premium for it at the same time providing the same to bottom of the pyramid diabeti eye patients through a private-public partnership. While the number of eye care givers is increasing due to training, there is no fully equipped eye theatre in Nairobi available for use.

1. Ensure that the centre is manned by ophthalmologists with sub-specialty training.
2. Ensure that we always have cutting edge technologies in the clinic and theatre.
3. Constantly evaluate pricing to ensure that it is affordable to the targetted market segment.
4. Set up similar units in the country and region.
5. Set up a chain of optical outlets using a possible franchising model.

Completed masters in ophthalmology from Nairobi univeristy in 2001, passed the International Council of Ophthalmology(ICO) exams in 2001, completed a fellowship in pediatric opthalmology in South Africa, completed a retina surgery fellowship in 2006, was the recepient of the international scholarship by ICO, passed entrance exams to the Royal College of Surgeons in Glasgow-UK. Have been in-charge of two busy eye hospitals in the past.

I have the required clinical/surgical training and experience together with the other eye specialist who will be workin in the eye centre.
We are currently recruiting for additional staff. A clinic manager/accountant, a nurse in-charge, driver/office assistant and a clinic technician. The manager will double as the receptionist. However, we see a need for a receptionist once the volume of client picks up.

I will be spending two and half days in the clinic. An additional half day will be spent marketing. The latter will be delegated as soon as we are able to afford a full time marketing/customer care manager.

The impact will be in in eye care delivery and training. Eye care training in the region is poor due to inadequate facilities. Savings made by health insurance providers and the reduced risk means they are able to offer more cover to eye patients. The outreach service will provide the services to bottom of pyramid patients thereby reducing preventable blindness.