July 2021
Devotional Flute Concert Fundraiser A Grand Success
Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a non-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic (eye) care throughout India. For the last four decades, SN has treated millions of patients.
Sankara Nethralaya USA (SN USA) was formed in the USA thirty years ago so NRIs could contribute to help the mission of SN. SN USA, based in the USA, has received the highest rating of four stars by Charity Navigator for maintaining financial accountability and fiscal transparency for funds donated by donors and how they are utilized towards the stated cause.
Every year, Sankara Nethralaya USA organizes Indian classical dance and music programs in various cities to raise awareness and raise funds. Because of the pandemic, all programs have been conducted virtually.
As part of our mid-year campaign, Kalaratna Vidwan Flute Nagaraju Talluri gave a devotional flute music concert on July 25th, 2021. He performed the following songs:
- Maha Ganapateem – Lord Ganesh
- Adivo Alladivo – Annamayya
- Janani Janani – Tamil song by Ilayaraja
- Shyam Teri Bansi- Hindi- Lata Mangeshkar
- Bhagyada Laxmi Baaramma- Kannada
- Tandanaanaa Hare – Annamayya
- Payoji Maine Raam Ratan Dhan Payo – Hindi – Meera bhajan
- Harivaraasanam – a popular Malayalam song for Ayyappa Swami first sung by Shri K. J. Yesudas
- Shankara Nada Sharirapara – SPB – Sankarabharanam
- Sathyam Shivam Sundaram – Hindi – Lata Mangeshkar
Sankara Nethralaya executive committee members – President Emeritus S V Acharya, President Bala Reddy Indurti, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli, Secretary Srinivas Ganagoni, Treasurer Banumati Ramkrishnan, Joint Secretary Sowmiya Narayanan, Joint Treasurer Raja Krishnamurti, and Past President Leela Krishnamurthy appealed the audience through TV channels to support the cause and help indigent blind patients in India.
Virtual music concert was broadcasted in the following major channels:
ManaTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g52jaxiPe1I
TVAsia Telugu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVEzgUI8nmk
Saakshi TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWKhCEjTOV0
TV5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtHjP2nthGQ
GNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxXoGUQzCVk
Viewers thoroughly enjoyed the concert and Sankara Nethralaya midyear campaign raised significant amount to restore the vision to many indigent blind patients in India. Kudos to the fundraising team, philanthropists, and the community for their unconditional support.
President Bala Reddy Indurti and President Emeritus S V Acharya thanked all the Trustees and Volunteers who are working selflessly to restore vision for indigent patients. Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli thanked the efforts of Sankara Nethralaya USA and the service of NRIs. President of Sankara Nethralaya India, Dr. Girish Rao elaborated the various services provided by Nethralaya to the needy people during pandemic.
Special thanks to Shyam Appali, Prameela Gopu, Suresh Kumar, Theagarajan, and Sunita Doss for their assistance in organizing this program and taking care of technical aspects to present the content in different channels.
Thanks are due to K.G. Venkatraman, Krishnaraj Bhat, Dr. Raj Modi, Dr. Reddy Urimindi, Srini Vangimalla, Shankar Setty, Jagannath Vedula, Narayan Indurthi, Upendra Rachupally, Rajasekhar Aila, Ravi Maraka, and Prasad Rani for promoting the event in social media, and TV channels.
Thanks, are also due to media partners ManaTV, TVAsia Telugu, SakshiTV, TV5, GNN, US1, and Tori for promoting Sankara Nethralaya activities.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach our committee members at the following link: https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org/committee-members.html
Special Discussion with Sri S. V. Acharya, President Emeritus, SN USA on Mana TV International HD
The Founder of Sankara Nethralaya USA Mr. S. V. Acharya and his wife Mrs. Nirmala Acharya were interviewed by Mana TV and the interview was broadcasted by ManaTV on July 23rd, 2021. Mr. & Mrs. Acharya spoke about their meeting with SN Founder Living Legend, Padma Bhushan Dr. S. S. Badrinath, their involvement with SN and the growth of Sankara Nethralaya USA during past 33 years.
Please click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0788I0UDVpA to view the interview.
We thank Leela Krishnamurthy and Narayan Reddy Indurthi for coordinating musical concerts and the walkathon event in Houston TX.
For more information and to donate please visit us at https://www.sankaranethralayausa.org
If you like to donate using PayPal please click the following link: https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1769240
Seeking Sri Maha Periyava’s Blessings with a Ganapathi Homam Performed at Sankara Nethralaya’s new centre at R. A. Puram
Seeking His Holiness Jagadguru Maha Periyava’s’ blessings, a Ganapathi Homam was conducted at Sankara Nethralaya’s newest centre in R. A. Puram early on 12th July, 2021 between 4:30 am to 6:00am.
Mr Rajesh Bassi and Dr.Shikha Bassi, In Charge, Sankara Nethralaya R.A.Puram branch, and Deputy Director Neuro-Ophthalmology department took Sankalpam and performed the puja on behalf of Sankara Nethralaya family.
The puja was attended by Dr. Girish S. Rao, the President of Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Dr. T. S. Surendran, Vice Chairman and Director of Paediatric Ophthalmology, Dr. Sripriya Krishnamurthy, Director, Department of General Ophthalmology, Dr. Suganeswari Ganesan, Senior Consultant, Vitreoretina and Oncology services, Dr. V. V. Jaichandran, Anaesthetist, Dr. Sharanya Sarah Abraham, Associate Consultant, Department of Uvea, and Dr. Srivalli Kaza, Senior Consultant, Department of General Ophthalmology.
Mr. and Mrs. V. Sriram, who came forward to offer their house for SN’s mission, were also present. We are grateful to the kind-hearted, service-oriented couple who are helping us to continue serving the community.
Spread out over 6,000 sqft, the new branch has a ‘state of art’ operation theatre (OT) equipped for advanced technology cataract surgery, and an Outpatient setup equipped with a Humphrey Visual Field Analyser, YAG laser, orthoptics ,Contact lens department, optical outlet, Pharmacy and Laboratory service. Comprehensive eye care, with other speciality services like Glaucoma, Uvea, Squint and Paediatric ophthalmology, Oculoplasty, Neuro-ophthalmology and Medical Retina are offered at R.A Puram SN.The branch is an ambulatory care facility offering the same quality of service as our apex facility in a cosy setting to our patients closer to their homes.
Due to the prevailing pandemic situation, the Homam had only a small physical gathering while many joined on the Zoom platform.
Sankara Nethralaya Expands its Oncology Services by Collaborating with Apollo Hospitals Chennai
Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai is happy to announce its expansion of services in the field of eye cancers. Delivering quality care at affordable rates has ever been the policy of Sankara Nethralaya (SN) since its inception. Following the footsteps of its founder Dr. S. S. Badrinath and to strive for excellence in the field of ocular oncology, Sankara Nethralaya joined hands with Apollo Proton Cancer Centre (APCC), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. This collaboration with Apollo Proton Cancer Centre will open the doors for a wide range of facilities to be made accessible to patients suffering from primary eye cancers or cancers involving other tissues with metastatic spread to the eye. Ocular oncology team of Sankara Nethralaya and oncology team of Apollo hospitals will work together to offer a holistic approach for ocular conditions requiring a multidisciplinary approach and vice versa.
This historic moment began with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by Dr. Girish S. Rao, President of Medical Research Foundation on 1stJuly, 2021 with Mrs Preetha Reddy, the Executive Vice Chairperson of the Apollo Hospitals Group in the presence of Dr. T. S. Surendran, Vice Chairman, Director of Paediatric Ophthalmology, Dr. Ronnie George, President, Director of Research, Director of Glaucoma Services, Dr. Ambika S., Director of Neuro – Ophthalmology, Dr. Suganeswari Ganesan, Senior Consultant, Vitreoretina and oncology services, Mr Harshad Reddy, Director Apollo home care and Mr. Suresh Kumar P, General Manager (SN).
The Ocular Oncology Service of Sankara Nethralaya caters to both common and rare cancers. With availability of cutting-edge imaging and treatment modalities, exploring newest treatment or techniques in advanced eye cancers will soon be a reality.
Special highlight of this MOU would be facilitation of multidisciplinary tumor board meetings. Services offered to patients of Sankara Nethralaya would be at nominal rates and would cover PET CT, neurosurgical procedures, intra-arterial chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Apart from external beam radiation therapy, other novel radiation therapy called proton therapy is a specialised treatment, which tends to deliver focused radiation to the tumor itself with less radiation to surrounding healthy tissue. This is a useful modality in the management of pediatric solid tumors with the least side effects.
Ocular oncologists from Sankara Nethralaya will also work with radiologists, radiation oncologists and neurosurgeons in a constant effort to save more human lives, preserve vision and globe salvage.
Sri Nathella Sampathu Chetty Clinical Laboratory Installation of DXH 560- Small And Mighty From Beckman Coulter
DxH 560
The compact 5 part differential autoloader Hematology Analyzer with effective clinical sensitivity, low sample volume (17µL), increased throughput has been successfully installed in Department of clinical Hematology and Clinical pathology.
DxH 800
This machine will be serving as a standby equipment for the existing higher version DxH 800 (with automated slide makes and stainer)
Dr.S.Vasanthi Badrinath (Lab Advisor, SNSC Clinical lab) did the honor of inaugurating the equipment on 8/7/21. This is the first equipment of its kind to be installed in Tamil Nadu at Sri Nathella Sampathu Chetty Clinical laboratory Medical Research Foundation.
Sri A Jagannathan Memorial Concert Series Completes 300 concerts
The Sri A Jagannathan Memorial Concert series organized by Sankara Nethralaya USA’s Joint Secretary & Trustee Mr. Sowmiyanarayan in memory of his father, Sri A Jagannathan completes 300 concerts. Over the one-year period, Sri Sowmiyanarayan organized 300 concerts and gave opportunities for more than 450 artists from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
The fundraising concert series was created by Sri Sowmiyanarayan to honor his father’s memory. His son, Sanjith Narayanan, and his violin teacher, Sri Kamalkiran Vinjamuri helped arrange the concerts. Initially scheduled only for ten days, the virtual concert series proved to be so popular it was extended multiple times and became an ongoing music concert series.
The extremely talented great-granddaughters of the unforgettable Bharat Ratna Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi and Sangeetha Ratnakara Dr. Radha Vishwanathan:- S. Aishwarya and S. Saundarya, performed for our grand landmark of reaching 150 concerts. Young and talented artists from Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, UAE, UK, USA, Singapore, and Sweden have come forward to perform for this good cause and showcase their unique talents.
Your enthusiastic support and contributions have enabled Sankara Nethralaya to perform eye surgeries for over 2000 poor indigent patients over the past year. We thank you all for the tremendous support that you have given to Sankara Nethralaya and this festival.
Sri Sowmiyanarayan thanks Sri Vibhu Rao (Mani Krishnaswami Academy), Sri Ramesh Sooryanarayanan ( Sai Rocks Studio), Chi. Sai Bharath (Sai Rocks Studio) and respected gurus.