February 2020

A hundred flowers bloom at the ‘Temple of the eye’ on the joyous occasion of its Chief’s 80th birthday!

A hundred joyous smiles through revived vision marked the 80th birthday celebration of Dr SS.Badrinath, among the world’s leading vitroretinal surgeons, a pioneer, visionary and humanitarian doctor, a living legend of our times and Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Sankara Nethralaya, India’s leading Clinical Care, Ophthalmic Research, Seat of Academics and Community Eye Care Center.

Photograph by SN Multimedia team

The Dr VG Appukutty Campus, the institution’s vast green premises situated right on the GST Road at St Thomas Mount, Chennai wore a festive look with the institution’s Senior Consultants and their teams of nurses, paramedics and support staff mentored by him and ingrained in his values assembled in large numbers in response to a clarion call made by President & Medical Director, Medical Research Foundation, Dr Girish Shiva Rao, to perform 100 cost free cataract surgeries on indigent patients as a befitting tribute and birthday gift from them and the institition to Founder and Chairman Emeritus Dr SS.Badrinath, who would be turning 80 years of age the next day. Sankara Nethralaya Consultants Dr. Prema Padmanaban,Dr. L.Vijaya,Dr. B. Shantha,Dr. Sumita Agarkar,Dr. Veena Bhaskaran,Dr. Elizabeth,Dr. Rajesh,Dr. Sudhir,Dr. Vineet Ratra,Dr. Kavitha Kalaivani,Dr. Durga,Dr. KC. Anand,Dr. Srivalli,Dr. Vinita Girish Rao,Dr. Shikka Bassi,Dr. Mona Khurana,Dr. Jeyalakshmi Govindan,Dr. Nivediata Narayanan, Dr. CK. Parameswari,Dr. Shema Rafeek,Dr. Suchitra Pradeep,Dr. Muthu Meena Muthumalai, Dr Gajendra Kumar Verma joined hands with anesthetists Dr Jagdeesh, Dr Lakshmi Prasanna, Dr Shoba Raishankar, Dr Pradnya Senthi Kumar to volunteer their service to the poor and needy on their weekend holiday, as their loving birthday gift and befitting tribute to their esteemed Guide, Guru and father figure and his institution to whom they owed the positions they held and the high reputation they enjoyed. The one day eye surgery camp was organized by Dr Veena Bhaskaran with administrative support from Shri Vanakkam Sivakumar, Administration In-Charge at the new Jaslok Community Ophthalmology Center, (JCOC) the institution’s exclusive cost free eye care center operating from its large, new premises. The Senior surgeons performed cataract removal surgeries on patients already screened at the JCOC, simultaneously at the operation theaters at the CU Shah Sankara Nethralaya, started by the man being honoured, as a peripheral eye hospital to dispense quality eye care to patients living in and around a region considered as a suburb of the city at the time of its inception, at the new JCOC, the recently constructed, massive, exclusive community hospital, a monument of his dream of operating one of the largest exclusive cost free community hospitals from the institution’s own premises and the ‘Mobile Eye Surgical Unit’ (MESU) the State of the Art and ‘one of its kind in Asia’ operation theater on wheels, the pioneer and only surgical facility which has the Union Health Ministry’s approval and sanction to perform cataract surgeries outside a conventional operation theater in a base hospital, a rich testimony to the Octogenarian’s foresight and quest to leverage latest technology to bring back lost vision and relief and alleviation from pain to the underprivileged, right to their doorsteps.

Photograph by SN Multimedia team

A total of 103 cataract removal surgeries were performed on the day in commemoration of living legend Dr SS.Badrinath’s 80th birthday falling the next day, capturing the spirit of dispensing quality eye care with love and a personal touch and totally cost free to those who cannot afford to pay for there treatment, as ordained by the Seer of Kanchi Mutt and enshrined as one of the founding principles of the institition

Photograph by SN Multimedia team

Photograph by Subhasish Shah – Contact Lens dept

Organizing of special Puja for their beloved Chief’s long and healthy life and continued guidance, at temples and distribution of ‘Prasad’ to members of the Sankara Nethralaya family by Lion Harinarayanan, Manager-Projects and formation of a grand ‘80’ by members of the SN family clad in white, led by Dr TS Surendran, Vice President, Dr Prema Padmanabhan, Dr Nirmala Subramanian, Dr Meenakshi Swaminathan, Dr L.Vijaya, Dr Shantha, Dr Shikha Bassi and many other Consultants, Fellows and staff members rendering the happy birthday song at the main campus, organized and executed by Dr Anuradha, Professor, ESO and Head of school children screening and a similar formation and a soulful birthday song for their Chief by the Optometrists and staff members at the Kamalnayan Bajaj Sankara Nethralaya, Kolkata, initiated by the Optometrists, marked the 80th birthday celebrations on the 24th of February.

An interesting development pertaining to the birthday celebrations that caught everybody’s attention was the development and designing of an online link https://sites.google.com/view/ssbhb/home and a QR scan through which members of the SN family and the large number of well wishers from outside could communicate their innermost thoughts,wishes and greetings on the joyous occasion with ease, by Mr M.Saravanan, from the institution’s multimedia department, as his birthday gift to the legend. It was a thoughtful leveraging of technology to enable reach and speed of personalized communication in terms of conveying their emotions and wishes, to the man who successfully leveraged technology to reach eye care and alleviation of pain to a large number of people

The institution would be conducting a special cost free Diabetic Retinopathy screening camp under the leadership of Dr Rajiv Raman, Senior Consultant, Bhagwan Mahaveer Vitroretinal Services, on 28th February 2020 at its JKCN campus located at 6, Pycroft Garden Road, Chennai-6, as part of the birthday celebrations and tribute to its founder and Chairman Emeritus Dr SS.Badrinath. As a novel measure and in appreciation of their perseverance and courage, the institution has decided to present those who have lived with diabetes for 10 years and above without any diabetes related eye issues, visiting the screening camp on the day with a certificate of appreciation and medal.

An institution committed to knowledge dissemination and service celebrates its stalwarts reaching glorious heights in the same.

It was a moment to cherish for every member of the Sankara Nethralaya family gathered at the packed Sri VD Swami Auditorium, at its main campus, the occasion was the felicitation of two of its stalwarts and most adored personalities, men who had carved a niche for themselves by their command, expertise and contribution to their fields as much as through their personal traits of being down to earth, highly accessible individuals with the highest degree of dedication to their institution they served and great love and regard to their fellow employees at every level.

It was the evening of Maha Shiva Rathri and star compeer of the evening Dr Rizwana, Assistant Professor at the Elite School of Optometry began the proceedings with her inimitable touch, drawing a parallel between the stalwarts who had helped in spreading the light of knowledge in academics and eye care through their service to humanity, being felicitated on the day, to the Cosmic dance of  Lord Shiva that leads to Light and Realization of the Soul. Dr Anuradha Narayanan, Assistant Professor Elite School of Optometry and Chief Coordinator of Children eye screening camps introduced Dr P.P Santanam the first Principal of the Elite School of Optometry being felicitated on the occasion, for being honoured with the highly prestigious ‘Dr CK Ramachandar Lifetime Achievement Award’ by the Indian Association of Occupational Health (IAOH), as the ‘Father of Occupational Optometry’ whose contributions to the field of occupational health, occupational optometry and the ESO cannot be measured and a man who has a strong moral, emotional and intellectual bonding with the institution with which he has been associated.

Dr Meenakshi Swaminathan, Senior Consultant, Pediatric Ophthalmology dept introduced the ‘Lions International’s Lifetime Achievement Award’ winner Dr TS.Surendran, Director-Pediatric Ophthalmology and Vice Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya in his several avatars, as a pioneer in Pediatric Ophthalmology, a highly skilled surgeon with a record number of squint correction surgeries to his credit, the public face of the institution, the genial personality who leveraged his contacts and affability to raise huge contributions to his institution. Dr Meenakshi Swaminathan highlighted that the citation of the award describing the awardee as ‘a man of high caliber, a man with a mission and a crusader against avoidable blindness, a Susruta of Strabismus, a man of great leadership qualities who has served society and a man who has exhibited unflinching loyalty to his institution and commended the recipient’s decades of service to pediatric ophthalmology, well summed up the persona of Dr Thandalam Surendran.

Making a brief acceptance address Dr PP Santanam thanked Sankara Nethralaya and its Founder Dr SS Badrinath whom he described as the Bhishma and Pithamahan of tertiary eye care for providing him the opportunity, platform and encouragement to develop ‘Occupational Optometry’ which had its genes from Optometry and Occupational health. Dr TS Surendran dedicated the award to his family and the SN family.

This was followed by the felicitation of SN Consultants and Optometrists whose research papers had won prestigious awards at various topical meets, while the fields and topics chosen by them, nature of their research work and its findings were impactful and diverse, the common thread that bonded all the winners was their uniform assertion that it was the opportunity provided by Sankara Nethralaya and encouragement of Dr SS.Badrinath that made their achievement a reality, it was the ultimate reiteration of the institution’s commitment to knowledge dissemination and deployment for the common good, as enshrined in its founding principles.

World’s leading service and relief organization confers its highest award on Sankara Nethralaya’s pioneer and stalwart!

The Association of Lions Clubs conferred its highest recognition and award on Dr TS Surendran, Director-Pediatric Ophthalmology and Vice President Sankara Nethralaya, at its regional meet held recently. It was a matter of great pride and jubilation for every member of the Sankara Nethralaya family as their favourite, ever smiling, jovial and down to earth TSS Sir as he is fondly referred to was honoured with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by Lion Vijayalakshmi Thavva, Lion K.Jeganath and Lion Ashok Mehta, in acknowledgment and high appreciation of his dedicated service to Pediatric Ophthalmology and for being the ‘Sushruta of Strabismus surgery’ for thousands of children and his sterling role in the crusade against preventable blindness

The award was not only in recognition of the veteran professional’s knowledge, skills and dedication to his profession but a strong acknowledgment and appreciation of his personal loyalty to his institution and for being a source of inspiration to all!

The Sankara Nethralaya family salutes its beloved Dr TSS Sir and wishes him many more accolades and honours in his professional journey

A lifelong crusader for need based health and safety in the workplace and play arena wins the highest acknowledgment for his contribution!

It is said that knowledge without humanity loses its purpose, it is only when knowledge helps in preventing/alleviating pain, enhances quality and productivity of life and makes the world a better place to live that it is said to have justified its existence and fulfilled its cause

The life and achievements of Dr PP Santanam who joined the Sankara Nethralaya family as a Guru and Guide, in his capacity as the first Principal of the Elite School of Optometry, a role for which he was personally chosen by Dr SS.Badrinath more than 4 decades back and continues to be a Guru to the SN family is a classic example of the above. A life spent in pursuit of making the working place safer, more worker friendly and productive, a life dedicated to understanding the niche health needs of various professions and sports persons and promotion of occupational health in India through his outstanding and exemplary contribution towards promoting healthy workplaces and his tireless efforts towards finding ‘Occupational Health’ its due place of importance  and its growth both nationally and internationally, won its richly deserved acknowledgment and honour as the Indian Association of Occupational Health (IAOH) conferred the coveted ‘Dr C K Ramachander Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award’ on the veteran.

The award was presented by a distinguished team of luminaries in the field consisting of Dr Ashish Mishra, Organizing Secretary, Dr SM Shanbag, Chairperson, Dr Seong Kyu Kang, Guest of Honour and Professor and Chair, Dept of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Korea, Dr Ramnik Parekh, Chief Guest and previous awardee winner of the Lifetime award, Dr Sidram K Raut, National President and Dr Hitesh Singhala, Honorary General Secretary, at the at the glittering inaugural ceremony of the IAOH and 70th National Conference of Occupational Health held at Mumbai.

The Sankara Nethralaya family conveys its warm regards and respects and expresses its hearty congratulations to its friend,supporter and Guru.

Fruits of a great intent bloom gloriously!

The certification ceremony of the students completing their Masters in Optometry and Bachelors in Medical Laboratory Technology and Ophthalmic Dispensing at the Sankara Nethralaya Academy, held at the packed to capacity VD Swami Auditorium on the 25th of January 2020 presented a picture of joy and jubilation.

The event capturing the successful acquisition of knowledge,skills by a set of young men and women and inculcation of the spirit of service in them was captured succinctly as ‘Fruits of a great intent’ by Mrs Akila Ganesan, Registrar, TSNA and Director-Administration Sankara Nethralaya. Observations on the institution in terms of its sterling role in reaching quality, career oriented education to children from the lesser privileged sections of society through fee waivers,scholarships and grants including assistance from its own employees resulting in the creation of a large number of first graduates in socially and economically backward families and 80% of its students being girls, by Professor Ramani, Principal, TSNA, followed by a note on the trail blazing courses introduced year after year including the fact that the TSNA was the only institution to offer the prestigious ‘Fellowship in Ophthalmic Dispensing’ in India and the impressive placement record of students from the previous batches by Dr Anuja Singh Vice-Principal and Mr Senthilkumar, Assistant Professor was a testimony to the quality of the tree from where the day’s fruits had blossomed.

The speakers highlighted that the exposure to a good number of eye screening camps serving the rural poor, including the ‘Sankara Nethralaya Eye Hospital Anjali to the Mahathma’ (SNEHAM-2020) not only exposed the students to various kinds of eye ailments but also inculcated the spirit of service in them.

Addressing the audience Mrs Akila Ganesan, Registrar, TSNA recalled that it was exactly 10 years ago when the dream of Dr SS Badrinath to start an institition offering courses offering high employment potential to the middle and lower income groups was placed before Periyava and today the institution has grown to great heights with the vision and plan of the great Visionary and the divine blessings of Periyava.

Highlighting to the students that Sankara Nethralaya is their home and their academic/professional performance, behavior and acts will reflect on it, Mrs Akila Ganesan used the opportunity to educate and guide them on their varying role and responsibility to their institution,their parents,society at large and to themselves.

The association of renowned professionals like Dr CM Srinivas, Dr Mitra Ghosh and Dr Mythily belonging to reputed institutions like CMC Vellore, Voluntary Health Service and MIOT Hospitals with the TSNA and their contribution to the courses offered was a testimony to the high standards of education offered at the institution.

A champion of ophthalmic anesthesia as a niche sub specialty and a key innovator in his field works his way up to the top slot!

It was yet another glorious feather in the proud cap of Dr VV. Jaichandran, Sankara Nethralaya’s senior ophthalmic anesthesiologist for whom winning accolades and honours at every national and international meet in his niche field that he attends has become a habit. An insightful talk titled ‘Retained Visual Sensations during Eye surgery’ delivered by him won great reviews and appreciation by the distinguished global audience at the 5th World Congress of Ophthalmic Anesthesia (WCOA), held at Jakarta, Indonesia on the 7th & 8th of February 2020. It was a glorious moment for a man who has been actively innovating newer techniques for both teaching and practicing regional blocks, when his E-Poster titled ‘Mannequin based training of ophthalmic anesthesia’ was adjudged as the ‘First Runner up’, at the prestigious international meet. It was a glorious hat-trick for the expert whose well researched papers had won the ‘Best Free Paper’ award at the 3rd WCOA in year 2012 at Turkey and the 1st and 2nd best free paper awards at the 4th WCOA held at Chennai in year 2016.

It was a wonderful example of the wheel having gone a full circle when Dr VV.Jaichandran who as a pioneer and champion of ophthalmic anesthesia in the country had contributed greatly to its recognition and growth as a critical sub specialty, was elected unopposed as the ‘International President of the World Congress of Ophthalmic Anesthesia’ (WCOA), the global body and umbrella organization engaged in the development, research, exchange of best practices and administration of this field, for the period 2020-24. It was a most befitting acknowledgment and honour coming in a year considered significant for the field of ophthalmology for the man who had been in the forefront of making the dream and vision of living legend Dr SS.Badrinath, to find a rightful and well deserved place for ophthalmic anesthesia and developing it further, a reality. A great moment for the man who pioneered the revolutionary ophthalmic anesthesia simulator and was the Chief Editor of a first of its kind textbook on the niche topic titled ‘Textbook in Ophthalmic Anesthesia’ with a ‘Foreword’ by Dr SS.Badrinath launched in year 2017 and a practitioner of anesthesiology who was passionately involved in forming a professional national body for ophthalmic anesthesiologists.

It is a great honour for an institution which is credited with having sown the seeds for the recognition and growth of ophthalmic anesthesia as a critical sub-specialty through the contributions of its veterans like Dr VG Appukutty and Dr Ian Sundararajan, that its senior anesthesiologist has been honoured with the highest position in the world of Ophthalmic Anaesthesia.

The Sankara Nethralaya family expresses its hearty Congratulations to Dr VV.Jaichandran its champion and pioneering anesthesiologist and wishes him a glorious and most productive innings as World President of the ‘World Congress of Ophthalmic Anaesthelogists’ (WCOA) the most coveted professional body. We are highly proud of you Doctor!!

Students from the Sankara Nethralaya academy demonstrate their expertise over a key professional skill




Most of us would recall our experience of having our blood drawn by a paramedic from our veins in a diagnostic lab or blood donation camp, our experience would vary from a very neat and quick process when the paramedic identifies the right vein, makes an almost painless puncture, draws the right amount of blood and puts a plaster over the area with no blood loss or a shoddy operation where he or she is unable to identify the vein, makes a painful puncture after several painful trial and error attempts and leaves the blood oozing after the needle is withdrawn

The study of drawing blood is called phlebotomy and is a vital learning for a lab professional. Students pursuing their Bachelors in Laboratory Technology at the Sankara Nethralaya Academy demonstrated their knowledge and skills in the Phlebotomy test conducted by the Indian Association of Paramedical Sciences on January 20th 2020 in which 350 students participated from Chennai.

We take great pleasure and pride in sharing that Jansy won the first prize and emerged as overall topper, followed by Ashwin Kumar and Sathish Kumar who shared the second prize and Priyadarshini winning the 3rd prize

The Sankara Nethralaya family conveys its hearty congratulations to its students for demonstrating their knowledge in a basic but vital part of diagnostics.

Head of iconic Tamil weekly strikes a positive note at the 71st R- Day celebrations at Sankara Nethralaya

The 71st Republic Day Celebrations at Sankara Nethralaya began with a reverential recollection to the Founding fathers of the nation who in their wisdom and foresight chose to adopt the sovereign, socialist, republic model as the newly independent nation’s model of governance and a special mention of Dr BR Ambedkar who drafted the Indian constitution as one of the most voluminous governance treatise consisting of 440 articles, which adapted the best from the constitutions of several nations.

Extending a warm welcome to the distinguished Chief Guest Shri Varadarajan Parthasarathy, Chairman & Managing Director, Kumudham Publications, Dr TS Surendran, Vice-Chairman and Shri AP Irungovel , Manager – Patient Education & Counseling recalled the glorious history of the magazine, the accuracy and impartiality of its reports, its immense popularity on account of its illuminate and educate approach and its employee friendly management.

Delivering the Chief Guest’s address Shri Varadarajan Parthasarathy  described Sankara Nethralaya as a mini India, he observed that he chose to speak in English on the occasion after some contemplation whether he should be speaking in Tamil or English as the institition and its founder were known all over India, he recalled an incident when a lady from Malmo whom he met when he was on a business visit to Sweden, inquiring about Dr SS.Badrinath and his institution, he reiterated that hence it would be more apt to speak in English at an institution which is in the eye of the world.

Conveying his hearty R Day greetings to the gathering, the distinguished chief guest implored that it was every citizen’s duty to recall the freedom fighters and founding fathers for choosing the sovereign,socialist republic model of governance for the newly Independent nation,which ensured liberty,fraternity and equality to all its citizens. He strongly underlined the remarkable advancements and achievements made by the Indian Republic in a wide sphere of human endeavor like poverty alleviation, reduction of unemployment,literacy,telecom, health care, abundant availability of essentials etc which he said is the right tribute to the founding fathers of the Republic of India. The distinguished chief guest ended his powerful talk with his strong observation that upliftment of the poor and weaker sections of society like women and children would be the benchmark of growth of future India.

The momentous day witnessed rendering of patriotic songs by the members of the Sankara Nethralaya family and acknowledgment of employees for long service, regular attendance and merit awards for the children of employees.