September 2022
Refresher course on Infection Control
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy conducted a one day refresher course on Infection Control in association with Schulke, India on 09th September 2022 with 15 nurses from Hindu Mission Hospital Chennai participating in the program. The course was conducted at The Sankara Nethralaya Academy, Dr.V.G.Appukutty campus. There were 4 sessions on aspects of Hospital Infection Control. The sessions started at 10 am with a talk on “Overview of Hospital Acquired Infections” by Ms. Lydia Annie. J – Nursing Superintendent, followed by another session on “Standard Precautions” by Ms. Vijaya Lakshmi Saravanan – Deputy Manager – Nursing. Ms. Yamuna Jaishankar – Nursing Educator, conducted a lively talk on “Safe Infusion & Injection Practices” and Ms. Allu Mounika, lecturer, TSNA conducted a interactive session on “Recent Advances in Nursing”. The session concluded with certificate distribution to the participating candidates. The one day program was well received with all the nurses giving appreciative feedback for their enhanced knowledge and information.
The Third Dr. Rajeswari Mahadevan Memorial Scientific Session
Dr. Rajeswari Mahadevan is a name that is etched in the field of contact lens practice in India. Fondly remembered as Dr. Raji, with two decades of experience in the field of contact lens (CL) and international acclaim, she had been a trendsetter in various innovations in CL practice and specialty CL practice in India. In her fond memory, Sankara Nethralaya initiated “Dr. Rajeswari Mahadevan Memorial Contact Lens Oration” on her birthday, September 9 since 2020.
On September 9, 2022, the third Dr. Rajeswari Mahadevan Memorial Scientific Session took place virtually and featured keynote addresses and research presentations in the area of contact lenses. This time, we had eminent national and international speakers addressing on Scleral Lens Practice in India by Optom Prasad Sawant, Sawant optometry clinic, Case-based approach in Scleral Lens Fitting by Dr. Maria Walker, University of Houston, Contact lens solutions and materials: concepts to minimize Contact Lens Discomfort (CLD) by Dr. Lakshman Subbaraman, Associate Director, Alcon and Eye Print PRO -Impression technology in Scleral lens by Prof Christine Sindt, University of Iowa. The response and the feedback that was received for each talk were remarkable.
There were oral scientific presentations, e-posters, and scientific reviews presented by many delegates from across the country. Apart from the contests on photo/video, a quiz on contact lens for the optometry students was initiated for the first time. Judges from India and abroad including Dr. Anitha Arvind, Dr. Rashima A, Dr. Pradipto Bhattacharya, Dr. Jaya Sownjanya Reddy, Optometrist Irene Sophia, and Optometrist Jothibalaji evaluated the entries. The event was attended by the President of the Medical Research Foundation Dr. Girish S. Rao, Dr. N. Anuradha, Principal of Elite School of Optometry and Dr. A Rashima, Head of Occupational Optometry services, Optom S Madhumathi, In charge of the Contact Lens at Sankara Nethralaya and the entire department of the contact lens.
Cash prizes were announced to the award winners in each category and the details of the winners are listed below
| Award winners | |
| Quiz Team | Manipal college of health Professionals |
| MS Nirmal Ghalley | |
| Mr Kareem S | |
| Ms Rinzin Wangmo | |
| Photography | Mr.Vigneshwar A G M.Optom,Elite School of Optometry,SASTRA university |
| Scientific Article Review | Mr.Krishna Shah (M.Optom, The Sankara Nethralaya Academy, MGR university) |
| E-Poster | Ms. Karpagavalli S (Senior Optometrist-Dept.of Contact Lens, Sankara Nethralaya) |
| Oral Presentation | Ms.Vanessa Barnes (Contact Lens Fellow, The Sankara Nethralaya Academy) |
A brief on the Department of Contact Lens
During the Years 2020-2022
- Seen nearly 15,000 cases, including Specialty contact lens cases,
- Trained about 5 Fellowship students and 8 Postgraduates from the department of Contact lenses.
- About 10 peer-reviewed journal publications
- 3 optometrists Received FIACLE status (Fellowship in the International Association for Contact Lens Educators)
- Received Prestigious IACLE Travel Award – 2022
Sankara Nethralaya Organizes Rally on National Eye Donation Day
On September 8th, 2022, National Eye Donation Day, Sankara Nethralaya (SN), and the SN C. U. Shah Eye Bank organized a rally at its Dr. V. G. Appukutty campus at St. Thomas Mount. Each year, India observes National Eye Donation Fortnight from August 25th to September 8th, 2022. During the two weeks, eye donation awareness activities are organized throughout the city to educate the public.
This year, Sankara Nethralaya’s C. U. Shah Eye Bank in collaboration with the Elite School of Optometry marched for eye donation awareness. Joining the 12 km rally were Mr. Nanda Kumar, Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Chief Guest, Dr. Anuradha N., Principal, Elite School of Optometry (ESO), Dr. Rama Rajagopal , Director, and Dr. N. Radhika, Deputy Director, Department of Corneal Services, Dr Veena Baskaran, Incharge – Community Ophthalmology, the students of ESO and The Sankara Nethralaya Academy (TSNA), and staff of Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai.
The Chief Guest, Mr. Nanda Kumar, Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax, Indian Revenue Service (IRS) was felicitated by Dr. Rama Rajagopal. Special guest, Mr. Raman, Dasaya Trust (NGO) was also present to encourage the participants in their laudable endeavour. Mr. Nandakumar appreciated the efforts of Sankara Nethralaya and Elite School of Optometry in organizing the event. He extolled the spirit of community service and said that the visually challenged only needed opportunities to prove themselves. Dr. Rama Rajagopal advised the audience to remember the noble cause of eye donation throughout the year. She reminded everyone that eye donation was not a disfigurement and that only the cornea would be donated.
During the fortnight, consultants from Sankara Nethralaya’s Department of Cornea Services, Dr. R. R. Sudhir, and Dr N Radhika gave interviews on major Tamil News Channels to raise awareness about eye donation.
Anyone can pledge their eyes regardless of age. While the term “eye donation” is commonly used, there is no whole eye transplantation. Usually, only corneal tissue is donated. One person’s cornea donation can restore sight to 4 people. Corneal or eye donation is one of the ‘universal’ donations where donors are not restricted by blood type, age, eye colour, and eyesight.
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy Hosts 2nd Datacon 2022
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy hosted a two-day conference on Healthcare Data Analytics on 27th and 28th of August 2022 in hybrid mode. The conference was held in partnership with the International Association for Healthcare Data Analytics. The theme of the conference was Healthcare Data science for improving quality, safety and research. The Consortium of Accredited Health care Organisation (CAHO), Schulke, and Maithree – a NGO for special children were co-sponsors of the event.
The pre-conference symposium was conducted at The Sankara Nethralaya Academy, Dr. V. G. Appukutty campus, Guindy on 27th August 2022. There were two tracks- one for students and beginners and another for Healthcare professionals. The pre-conference workshops were attended by more than 75 participants in virtual and in person mode.
The Chief Guest, Dr. Thennarasu Maruthamuthu, M.Sc, PGDBS, Ph.D., lit the lamp and inaugurated the proceedings in the presence of Dr. Anuja R. Singh, Principal and HOD, G. Senthilkumar, Asst. Professor – Management Studies, TSNA, Dr. V. V. Jaichandran, Department of Anesthesiology, and the organizing committee of the symposium.
For students and beginners, there were basic to advanced topics – including Statistical Overview, Data Preparation via SPSS Software, Data Management and Transformation, Sample Size Calculation, Reliability and Validity Test, Correlation and Regression Analysis, General Linear Model and Log Linear Model etc.
For the healthcare professionals, topics such as Introduction to Survey on Patient Safety Tools, AHRQ Survey Tools, Data Collection Methodology, Data Accreditation and Standards, Internal and External Benchmarking Standards, Score Card, Dashboard and Story Board by Using Tableau and Power BI Business Intelligence Software were explored.
On Day 2 of the conference, there were three sessions on aspects of quality, safety and research. The sessions started at 8.30 am with the theme of Role of Data Analytics in Healthcare Quality Management. Eminent healthcare quality experts like Mr Arun Govind, Ms Dalia Kozhaya, Mr Thom Dammrich and Dr Thennarasu spoke on topics such as Using Data in Business and Healthcare, Strengthening Data Collection and Use for Healthcare Quality Improvement, Continuous Quality Improvement and Reduce Variability in Healthcare Quality Competencies.
The conference was inaugurated by Dr Girish S Rao, President. The Chief guest Dr Ravanan R., Director of Collegiate Education and Retd. Principal, Presidency College, the Guest of Honour, Dr. Jothi Kumar R, Dean of Faculty, Science and Humanities, SRM Institute of Science and Technology and Special Guest Dr P. Venkatesan, Senior Deputy Director (Retd.) conveyed their good wishes for the conference and stressed on the need for a data driven culture.
The 2nd session was themed on Improving Patient Safety through Visual Analytics and Data Science. Mr. Johnievic Valdez, Ms. Marwa Noureldein, Dr. Manjusha Dhule and Dr. V V Jaichandran gave insightful talks on the role of artificial intelligence on patient safety, risk management in healthcare, how to visualize, analyze and predict patient waiting time using graphical tools and developing a data driven culture. The talks were insightful and well received by the participants.
The third and concluding session focussed on use of statistics and software in medical and health research. Leading ophthalmologists, Dr Rajeev Raman and Dr R R Sudhir spoke on the use of big data analytics in healthcare research and transformation of data into information and knowledge, while Dr. Mani Bhaskaran lent his know-how as a moderator on one of the sessions. Dr. Venkatesan P., retired senior scientist from ICMR spoke on survival analysis in public health research. Dr. Sendaresan Raman gave an interesting talk on transforming healthcare with artificial intelligence and machine learning. The event ended with a question-and-answer session in which the audience pontificated enthusiastically.
Mr. G. Senthilkumar, Assistant Professor (TSNA) and Organizing Secretary, gave the vote of thanks and summarizing the valuable information shared during the two-day summit. Around 110 participants attended the conference while more than 75 people joined virtually.