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The 18th Aradhana of the Mahaperiyava of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam was celebrated at the Sri VD Swami Auditorium on the 3rd of January, 2012 with the piety and religious fervour befitting the occasion. Delivering the welcome note Dr AR.Karthik, Fellow, Post DNB observed that it is the divine guiding force and Anugraha of Periyava that has made Sankara Nethralaya a premier institution today, he thanked devotional singer Shri Vijaya Shiva for accepting our invitation in short notice and making himself available for the occasion. The function began with an invocation song by Shri Vijaya Shiva followed by the chanting of Vidhyarthis by purohits from the Veda padasala. A token donation from Sankara Nethralaya employees was handed over to Dr. S.Bhaskaran, Chairman on the occasion
Dr Vasanthi Badrinath welcomed and introduced the day’s chief guest Srimathi Prema Krishnamurthy and recalled the long association that she and Dr SS.Badrinath had with her family. She highlighted the social and spiritual services of Srimathi Prema Krishanmurthi like providing food at cost to the underprivileged, spreading awareness on Sanatana dharma, giving free Sanskrit classes to anyone desirous of learning the ancient language or doing Namavali with village children, simple acts which upheld high values in the true tradition of the Mahaperiyava.
Chief Guest of the occasion Srimathi Prema Krishnamurthy delivered a most heart warming speech, a speech which as rightly pointed out by Dr. Karthik brought out her sheer command over Sanskrit, English, Hindi and Tamil. She observed that the fact that we lived during the time of the great sage of Kanchi was by itself a great blessing. Her speech touched on a broad spectrum of subjects from present societal values to the path to God, she underlined her points by drawing on simple and even humorous anecdotes from the life of the Mahaperiyava as witnessed in person by a bhaktha, which transformed the audience to another age and another world.
The Chief Guest’s address was followed by a poignant audio presentation of the Sage of Kanchi in various avatars and places with the playing of a soul stirring song rendered in his honour by late Srimathi Gowri Sivaraman an ex-employee of Sankara Nethralaya in the background. Dheepa Arathanai was performed to the accompaniment of the traditional Arathi song the Sankara Nethralaya Anthem. The function ended with the employees offering flowers and Namaskarams at the feet of Mahaperiyava and distribution of Prasadam.
Pramukhswami Medical College the first private medical college of Gujarat located at Karamsad near Anand celebrated its 25th Anniversary on 25/12/2011 in a grand manner. The institute chose to honour the past Deans of the college who had rendered meritorious service towards its growth and 4 students of outstanding academic excellence who had passed out of its portals since its inception on this momentous occasion.
It is a matter of great pleasure and pride to the Sankara Nethralaya family that Dr Gandhi Rashmin Anil Kumar, Director Sankara Nethralaya Academy and E-Learning was among the 4 past students selected for this high recognition. The award was given away by the Honourable Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi in the presense of the Honourable Health Minister of Gujarat Shri Jayanarayan Vyas.
We congratulate Dr Gandhi for this great recognition and the pride it has brought to Sankara Nethralaya and wish him many more accolades and distinctions in the future.
The annual ICICI-CNBC-TV-18 healthcare awards with a huge participation of 4000 hospitals from across the country, a highly distinguished, multi-discipline jury and scientific evaluation parameters has emerged as among the most comprehensive and authoritative verdicts of the healthcare sector. This year’s award ceremony was held on December 22nd at the Taj Palace, New Delhi presided over by Shri Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.
Sankara Nethralaya was adjudged as the ‘Best Hospital in Ophthalmology’ in the Best Single Specialty Hospital category for the second year in succession. Dr. S. Bhaskaran, Chairman, received the award on behalf of Sankara Nethralaya.
Abha Gupta is tired of people telling her that she looks exhausted. She says she gets enough sleep, but the dark circles under her eyes make her look old. Gupta tried several home remedies — keeping slices of cucumber and used tea bags on eyelids and applying a variety of oils. “Nothing works,” says the 27-year-oldtechie, who works for a software company in Chennai.
Though dark circles are not a medical problem, treating it can be tough as there could be several contributory factors. “It could be hereditary,” says Dr Shubhra Goel, who works for the department of oculoplasty and aesthetics at Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai. Most people think dark circles are signs of tiredness, lack of sleep or alcoholism. But doctors say these factors can contribute, but are not always the cause. Now Sankara Nethralaya is planning a study on 1,200 people in the 15-45 age group to identify the causes. The findings, she hopes, will help them figure out treatment protocols.
Research shows that aging can increase chances of getting dark circles. With age, the skin becomes thinner and the dilated blood vessels under the eye begin to show as dark circles. Sometimes, medications like harmone pills can worsen the condition. At Sankara Nethralaya, doctors use various methods to treat dark circles. The non-surgical methods include treatment with Botox, dermal fillers,chemical peels, radiofrequency skin tightening, dermabrasion and use of ‘anti-aging’ products.
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Dr Padmaja Sankaridurg a well known vision scientist and expert in the area of Corneal infections among contact lense wearers delivered a lecture on ‘Myopia Control- Where are we now” at the Sri VD Swami Auditorium, Sankara Nethralaya. It would be of interest to readers that Dr Padmaja Sankaridurg is among the first batch of students to pass out of the Elite School of Optometry; she is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Optometry, New South Wales and heads Myopia Research at the Brien Holden Vision Institute, Sydney besides being its Manager, Intellectual Property.
Dr Padmaja Sankaridurg has several publications and four Patents to her credit. The lecture on myopia was well attended by students from Sankara Nethralaya and independent optometry practitioners from the city and was also web cast.
Passing out students of the 1st batch of Hospital Management course meet
Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya
The first batch of students of the 10 weekend certificate program in Hospital Management conducted by the MMA&TSNA passed out successfully on 24th December 2011. The students belonging to mid and senior level management positions from a broad spectrum of health care institutions ranging from multinational diagnostic centers to multi-specialty hospitals found the course to be of great relevance to their vocation in terms of enhancing their skill sets, equipping them to handle direct and related healthcare issues and to organize their departments much better.
While the course won overall praise for its holistic approach to hospital management, in-depth, wide and well researched content and professional levels of tutoring by the faculty, TSNA staff members won praise and admiration for their efforts in making the entire learning experience very pleasant and memorable.
The Tamil month of ‘Margazhi’ has traditionally been marked by devotional music and prayer, a time to invoke the Almighty through music and songs; it is a period when temple corridors to drawing rooms come alive with the chanting of mantras and rich devotional music right from dawn. So it was in the fitness of things that the Vision Research Foundation made an auspicious and melodious beginning to its fund raising efforts on the first day of Margazhi with an enthralling violin concert by Maestro Shri TN.Krishnan accompanied by Shri Sriram Krishnan and Srimathi Viji Krishnan. The music and dinner program organized to create awareness on its activities and raise funds for the Vision Research Foundation’s corpus fund was held on the 17th of December, 2011 at the Mauve&Lilac room at the Raintree Hotel.
Mrs. Akila Ganesan, GM, Sankara Nethralaya the MC for the evening extended a warm welcome to the distinguished guests, the performers for the evening and senior officials of Sankara Nethralaya including Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus. The evening’s proceedings got off with an informal meeting between the guests and the hosts, after a round of greetings and exchanging pleasantries it was time for the concert and the guests were treated to a mellifluous flow of music from the violin strings of the Krishnan trio after which they dispersed for dinner.
After some soul stirring music and dinner it was time for some food for thought and this was provided in plenty through an impressive presentation of the growth, achievements and goals of the Vision Research Foundation by Dr Ronnie George its Director and Dr. Ananthkumar Badrinath, Reader, Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology who underlined the need for focused, India centric research in various branches of Ophthalmology and the need to raise funds to support this highly critical initiative undertaken by the Vision Research Foundation.
The Vision Research Foundation plans to hold such awareness creation and fund raising functions at regular intervals to educate the people on its mission and create a corpus fund to meet its objectives.
‘If children are the eyes of the nation, what greater responsibility do we have than ensuring the well-being of their eyes’ seemed to be the underlying theme of the IXth Nagamani Dharmapuri Endowment Lecture at the Sri VD Swami Auditorium on 22nd December, 2011. The day’s proceedings got off to an auspicious start with an invocation song by Ms Vidhya Poodham from Yodhaka, after which Dr. Akila, Fellow in pediatrics welcomed the distinguished guests to the dais.
Delivering the welcome address Dr. Sumitha Agarkar, Deputy Director, Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology expressed that the Nagamani Dharmapuri Endowment was a sign of the deep involvement of Dr Nagamani Dharmapuri and her husband Dr. Vidyasagar Dharmapuri in prenatal, natal and post natal well-being of new born babies and their benevolence. Dr. Agarkar expressed that it was a great honour to have a man of the stature and accomplishments as Dr Rajvardhan Azad to deliver the endowment lecture of the day and added that it was Dr Azad’s high regard for Dr SS.Badrinath that made him make his presence in the midst of his highly busy schedules. Dr Sumitha Agarkar set the tone for the evening with her observation that factors like better understanding and improved neonatal care, while improving infant mortality rates have placed a bigger challenge to pediatrics in the form of increased instances of ROP.
Speaking next Dr. Sandeep Mark Thirumalai, Consultant, Department of pediatric ophthalmology recalled that it was Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya who realized the critical need for an exclusive pediatric ophthalmology department and how Dr TS.Surendran currently the department’s Director was its one man army for a long time after its inception, until Dr Sumitha Agarkar and Dr S. Meenakshi currently the Director – Academics, joined him. He highlighted the formation and achievements of the Sankara Nethralaya-ORBIS training center and how the pediatric ophthalmology department was very thoughtfully given a child friendly look and feel as a first step in keeping the children who come for treatment feel at ease and relaxed
Dr. Tarun Sharma, Director, Vitreo- Retinal Services Department introduced the Chief Guest of the evening Ms Jennifer McIntyre the US Consul at Chennai and her active involvement in health care projects in the third world countries.
Introducing Dr Rajvardhan Azad, Dr TS.Surendran, Director, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Vice-Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya remarked jovially that highlighting the learned professor’s achievements, distinctions and credentials would be a daunting task due its sheer volume and range and he would prefer that the audience read all of it from the scrolling screen behind. He recalled the sunny days spent together with him back in the 80’s in New Delhi and the lively discussions over mugs of coffee at the Medical College cafeteria. Dr TS.Surendran remarked that heavy fog and mist had seriously disrupted flight landings and departures at the New Delhi Airport but Dr Rajvardhan Azad’s passion for Sankara Nethralaya made it a trivial issue and he has made his presence as promised.
Chief Guest for the evening Jennifer McIntyre observed that rapid strides have been made by India in health care, she congratulated India for having the highest number of Fulbright scholars outside the USA and the highly successful joint efforts between the USA and India in combating diseases like HIV-AIDS.
The high point of the evening undoubtedly was Professor Rajvardhan Azad’s well-researched and in-depth lecture on pediatric ophthalmology on the topic ROP- Prelude, Pursuit and Perceptions. Professor Azad started by expressing his life long admiration for Dr SS.Badrinath and gave a slightly different definition to ‘Sankara Nethralaya’ as the ‘Temple of Ophthalmic learning’. His lecture traced the occurrence of ROP in infants back to war torn Europe of 1942 and took listeners to the latest learning, developments, his real-time experiences and specialized fields like Flouroxin Angiography and Neo-Vascularization. His address came as a treasure trove of knowledge to the doctors and students, especially to those pursuing pediatric ophthalmology. The audience registered their appreciation with a thundering, standing applause. Dr Azad finished his address with a Sanskrit couplet which summed up the evening’s deliberations succinctly and it simply translated into ‘All Must see”
The evening concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr Kavitha Kalaivani, Consultant, Pediatric Ophthalmology Department.
The Lion’s club and Sankara Nethralaya have been, to quote Lion Shri GV.Raman’s words ‘Partners in conquering blindness’. So it was only natural that they decided to rise to the occasion to felicitate two of the senior heads of their partner institution chosen by the State government for high distinction. The awardees being felicitated were Dr S.Bhaskaran, Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya who was honoured with a ‘Life time Achievement’ award and Dr TS.Surendran, Vice-Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya honoured with the ‘Best Doctor” for year 2011 – 2012 by the prestigious Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University.
The felicitation ceremony held at the Sri VD.Swami Auditorium on 19-12-2011 began with a warm welcome and an interesting account of the Lion’s club’s service to society in general and particularly for the cause of fighting blindness for the past 40 years by Lion K.Andal. The welcome address was followed by the presentation of the citation titled ‘Congratulations’ to the awardees by Lion Shri GV.Raman, Past District Governor, who presided over the day’s function. Past District Governor Lion Dr KS.Lakshmi joined Lion GV Raman in felicitating the awardees; she recalled her long association with Sankara Nethralaya and the great work done by these eminent and service minded doctors.
The Lion’s Club of Central Madras made a donation of rupees 50,000 to Vision Research Foundation’s corpus fund on the occasion. Thanking the organizers of the function for their felicitation Dr S.Bhaskaran and Dr.TS.Surendran recalled their more than 15 years of association with the Lion’s club and expressed their profuse thanks to its members for the club’s continued assistance in cash, kind and service to Sankara Nethralaya.
The occasion also marked the holding of the 41st Inter collegiate oratorical competition on current affairs for college students by the Lion’s club. Students from major colleges in the city participated and awards were distributed to the winners. The function concluded with a vote of thanks by Lion Shri S.N.Harinarayanan, Project Chairman.
The Vision Research Foundation’s long time dream and objective of creating its own corpus fund to the tune of rupees 200 crores to support its broad spectrum, India centric research got off to a head start on the 10th of December. It was on this day exactly a century ago that Shri S.Krishnamurthy Rao who rose to be the Professor of Mathematics at the Swami Vivekananda College, Madras was born. His children and their spouses wanted to make his 100th birthday anniversary a very special and memorable occasion, they realized that there could be no better way to pay their tribute and propitiate his memory to the future generations than through a donation for the cause of research, a thoughtful contribution towards research dedicated to eliminating blindness and providing the light of vision by finding solutions to today and tomorrow’s ophthalmic challenges.
His illustrious son Dr KS.Vasan, Director-Operations, Sankara Nethralaya and his worthy brothers and sisters and their families got together and decided to contribute a huge sum of rupees 10 lakhs between them to the Vision Research Foundation. The donation was handed over on behalf of the family by Dr KS.Vasan to Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya on the 10th of December 2011. This significant amount would contribute towards the creation of the corpus fund for the VRF to support its research endeavors ranging from basic research to more advanced areas like stem cell and Nanobiotechnology research.
The Sankara Nethralaya family expresses its deep appreciation and gratitude to Dr KS.Vasan its Director and his siblings and their families for this most generous and far sighted act for the cause of research.
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