our story
Many of us take our eyesight for granted. The reality is that living with poor vision, or in total blindness can have a devastating impact on the quality of life for many individuals, their families and by extension society.
In 1998, Dr. Bhola left Trinidad to pursue his studies to become an Eye Surgeon in England. He quickly realized that he had a passion for eye surgeries, in particular intra-ocular surgery. For the next 10 years, he concentrated all his efforts on refining his surgical skills.
In 2008, he returned home and continued to do more and more surgeries both in the public and private health care systems. Over time, he became fixated with cataract surgery, complexed intra ocular surgery and retina surgery.
By 2011, his surgical reach had expanded exponentially, allowing him the opportunity to form Caribbean Vitreous and Retina Surgery Ltd (CVRS). CVRS's patient base also grew exponentially within the country and region and gained the ability to start charity eye surgery programmes after just one year of opening.
Today, CVRS offers a wide range of high quality ophthalmology services, restoring sight and reducing avoidable blindness to thousands.
With a special team of doctors, CVRS provides eye care from 2 locations throughout T&T and is committed to providing comprehensive services with love and compassion every day. The company has served more than 20,000 patients since it opened for service in 2011 and continues to grow annually.
Cataracts, Glaucoma and Retina treatments are the three main sub-specialties offered along with subspecialist support from UK consultations for treatment on Cornea, and Refractive Surgical procedures like Lasik Surgery and Refractive Intra-ocular lens surgery.
CVRS also offers a full range of Optometry Services inclusive of dispensing of glasses and contact lens.
Eyecare can be costly for many, CVRS offers many eyecare services with Subsidized Pricing (SP) options for patients and also sponsors services towards all Trinidad Eye Hospital initiatives throughout the year.
Our mission
To make compassionate and quality eyecare accessible to all
Our vision
To eradicate avoidable blindness
our story
In 2016, Dr. Ronnie Bhola, Director of CVRS, founded the Trinidad Eye Hospital (TEH), the first non profit organization of its kind in the region to do charity/free eye care programmes and outreach for those who cannot afford to meet their eye care needs on their own.
The focus is to provide free eyecare services which are primarily funded by the sponsor company CVRS. Fortunately, an expanding network of corporate sponsors and donors have been increasing the ability to provide free eye care for many vulnerable groups in need.
There is also focus on patient education and continuous education programmes for ophthalmologists and optometrists via partnerships with the University of the West Indies and other international training bodies. TEH aims to increase collaboration with PAHO, WHO and many other local and international health agencies to achieve the many objectives set out for eye health management globally.
Championing the cause for Diabetic Eye Screening is also one of the main goals of the TEH using advanced retinal photographic technology to prevent avoidable blindness due to diabetes which is highly prevalent in Trinidad and Tobago.
One of our early contributors
dr. dennison bhola
In 2015 when Trinidad Eye Hospital was just an idea, Dr. Dennison Bhola took an interest in helping his brother and Chairman of TEH, Dr. Ronnie Bhola to develop the organization's first five year strategic plan. He had a passion to make a difference and helping the less fortunate in eyecare grew close to his heart.
His expertise in statistics and education helped to mold the culture of the not-for profit and evidence based approach adopted by TEH.
The organization is grateful to Dennison for the many hours he spent, tirelessly developing the free eyecare service model with the Board of Directors and Management team which has successfully set up Trinidad Eye Hospital for long term growth.
Dennison has moved on in his career making strides in his field and has recently launched a new book "Creating Aha Moments" which he co-authored and is available on Amazon.com
