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Over 5,000 Ophthalmologists from India and abroad participated at the annual All-India Ophthalmology Conference at Kolkata, held from January 21-24, 2010, which saw over 1,000 speakers and faculty hold more than 200 sessions of scientific deliberations on Ophthalmology.
Accolades for SN doctors:
For his dedicated services in ocular immunology, Dr. Jyotirmay Biswas, Director, Ocular Pathology, Sankara Nethralaya was awarded the Dr. P Siva Reddy Oration award at the inaugural session of the 68th annual conference of the All India Ophthalmological Society in Kolkata on January 21, 2010.
Dr. Vineet Ratra, Senior Consultant, Sankara Nethralaya, was awarded the DB Chandra Award by the All-India Ophthalmic Society. Dr. Ratra will receive the award at the 2011 All-India Ophthalmic Conference to be held at Ahmedabad.
Similarly, Dr. Vijay Ananth J, Neuro Ophthalmologist consultant, Sankara Nethralaya was awarded the ‘SD Athwale award’ for a presentation on “Orbital Apex syndrome”. He too will receive his award at the 2011 AIOC.
The presence of Information Technology, in today’s day and age, has not only fastened the pace at which operations take place but has also brought about a marked improvement in the quality of services.
In India, and elsewhere, one such area which has benefited from IT applications is the healthcare sector. Sankara Nethralaya, one of India’s leading eye care hospitals, is a fine example of an organisation which has used IT-based initiatives to improve ophthalmic care and its reach in India. The influence of Information Technology has indeed been profound in the healthcare sector in developing countries like India, where healthcare services has witnessed an exponential growth over the last decade or two.
Chennai eye hospital uses IT advances to deliver services
Desi Talk, January 8, 2010.
Eminent epigraphist and Tamil scholar Shri. Iravadham Mahadevan has been selected for this year’s Ayyan Tiruvalluvar award. The award, which carries Rs. 1 lakh and a gold medal, is given every year to Tamil scholars, poets, social and cultural activists.
Through the Vidyasagar Educational Trust, established in memory of his son Vidyasagar, Shri. Iravadham Mahadevan made a munificent donation to establish an institution to promote Biomedical Technology and Science as a unit of Medical Research Foundation (MRF) at Sankara Nethralaya. Accordingly, the Vidyasagar Institute of Biomedical Technology and Science (VIBS) was established at Sankara Nethralaya on October 25, 2006.
The present ongoing postgraduates programme included under VIBS is the Master of Science in Medical Laboratory Technology conducted by the Medical Research Foundation as a collaborative programme of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani.
A recipient of several awards and honours, Shri. Mahadevan was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1970 for his research on the Indus script and 22 years later, the National Fellowship of the Indian Council of Historical Research for his work on the Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions. In 2009, Iravatham Mahadevan was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
Read more…
The Hindu, January 05, 2010.
Eye care is synonymous with Sankara Nethralaya. But had S S Badrinath taken that flight to America in 1972, it would have been a blind alley for thousands.
PUSHPA NARAYAN
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
DR S S BADRINATH | CHENNAI “It’s all team work. This place will continue to grow long after I am gone”
Thank god for the change in travel plans that Dr S S Badrinath made on a May morning in 1972. It was on that day the visionary ophthalmologist, pursuing a private practice in the US at the time, decided to stay back. He went on to establish Sankara Nethralaya (SN) in Chennai in 1978 with the express mission of serving the poor and needy. In a country that is home to one-third of the world’s blind, the netralaya was manna from heaven.
Forty per cent of the surgeries — including 10,000 cataract operations in a year — are conducted free-of-cost at SN. The centre has a unique operational model which allows it to cross-subsidise expenses for the poor. All doctors here,
including the founder, are paid salaries, not consultation fees.
“That,” says Badrinath, “has helped us sustain ourselves while carrying out surgeries free of cost.” As for acquiring state-of-the-art equipment, there are always generous donors. In fact, Badrinath started SN with funds from donors and refused to take any loan because he didn’t want the pressure to make money to get to him.
The centre is also the fountainhead of ophthalmology research in India. Currently, the largest number of scientific papers on ophthalmology in the country comes out of Sankara Nethralaya. A pioneer in more ways than one, the hospital was the first to introduce photorefractive keratectomy and laser technology to correct refractive errors. It has performed stem cell therapy using a patient’s tooth — a procedure called osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis. It also runs an optometry school and a research centre for stem cell and genetic therapy to find ways to cure several types of blindness.
The centre has come a long way from its modest beginning. Opened as a clinic with just three consultants, today it has more than 80 consultants who perform at least 100 surgeries in a day. Sitting in a room on the second floor of an imposing building, the 71-year-old, tall, well-built doctor is modest about his achievements. “It’s all team work,” he says simply.
At least 1,200 people walk in here every day from all corners of the country, and the corridors bustle with doctors, optometrists, paramedics and nurses attending to an endless stream of patients. Badrinath, who is the hospital’s employee no 2 — the first is his driver Arumugam, who has retired — says its biggest strength is a mix of different people but with the same dedication and goals. “This place will continue to grow long after I am gone,” he smiles.
Source: The TOI Crest, January 02, 2010
Smt. Sulochana Amma and Dr. Vasanthi Badrinath, Director, Clinical Laboratory, Sankara Nethralaya, at the rededication of the Sri. Nathella Sampathu Chetty Clinical Laboratory on December 31, 2009.
Following its renovation, the Sri. Nathella Sampathu Chetty Clinical Laboratory was rededicated by Smt. Sulochana Amma, wife of (late) Sri. Nathella Sampathu Chetty Garu, on December 31, 2009 at Sankara Nethralaya.
Smt. Sulochana Amma lighted the traditional lamp following which she and her family were shown around the refurbished clinical laboratory facility. A detailed document listing the activities and achievements of the clinical laboratory was presented to the Smt. Sulochana Amma and her family, who donated Rs. 1 lakh to SWAN (Sankara Nethralaya Women Auxiliary) on the occasion.
As part of the ongoing support provided by Sankara Nethralaya to the Ophthalmology department at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi, Dr. RR Sudhir, senior consultant, Sankara Nethralaya, visited the institute from December 21 to December 26, 2009.
A series of lectures on cornea were held during the period and Dr. Sudhir had the opportunity to have effective interactive sessions with both students and faculty. During his sessions with post graduate students, Dr. Sudhir demonstrated to students how to diagnose, pick and manage the findings of corneal cases. The institute, he said, is well equipped with excellent teaching facilities.
Describing his visit as productive, Dr. Sudhir said the visit also enabled him to share with the institute’s HODs Sankara Nethralaya’s experience of successfully implementing EMR. He was equally impressed to see the level of dedication, diligence and the hard-work put in by the institute’s students; qualities which Sankara Nethralaya students should imbibe.
Dr. Sudhir was also fortunate to have the darshan of Bhagwan Shri Sathya Sai Baba from close quarters and prayed for the entire Nethralaya family.
Sankara Nethralaya Chairman Emeritus, Dr. SS Badrinath, who recently attended the first-ever Alumni Day held at Indian Institute of Technology Madras on December 26, 2009 shared with the gathering the phenomenal growth Nethralaya has experienced since its inception in 1978.
Dr. Badrinath also spoke on the IT initiatives undertaken by the institute and its impact on health care. “Many medical practitioners may not find it feasible to invest in software to maintain e-records and by accessing our National Knowledge Network, doctors nationwide can switch to the technology,” he said. Medical practitioners across the country, he added, could maintain electronic records of every patient for as less as Rs. 5.
Sankara Nethralaya, in collaboration with IIT Madras, has completed two projects and has several more which are being undertaken including one on teleophthalmology via 3G spectrum instead of the existing satellite-based service, for faster connectivity.
Dr. Badrinath called for better electronic protocol that can be achieved by offering enhanced training. “We are thinking of starting a school of scientific dispensing of glasses. Uncorrected refraction can cause blindness in 6% of the population and precision prescription is the key.”
He also touched upon the key areas— e-learning, electronic medical records, teleophthalmology — through which Sankara Nethralaya is striving to serve the community in the coming decades.
Read more…
E-record of patients for Rs. 5, says doctor
Times of India, December 27, 2009
The Seonee hills came alive at the Georgetown Center Auditorium, Austin, Texas, US, as Mowgli and his friends from the animal kingdom recounted one of the most loved tales of the century in a brilliantly-choreographed dance drama by the Natyalaya School of Dance on 20, 2009.
Children were at their artistic best, as they took the audience in an enchanting journey of Rudyard Kipling’s famed ‘Jungle Book.’
The performance, a benefit concert for Sankara Nethralaya, was attended by around 300 people. The remarkable efforts by Ms. Vinitha Subramanian & the 24 children from the Natyalaya School of Dance were showcased in every act.
For their incredible enthusiasm in participating in the benefit concert and supporting Nethralaya’s cause, the children were presented with plaques of honor by Sankara Nethralaya and Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust.
Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust, Inc., a registered non-profit organization in the United States of America, was established in 1988 with the sole purpose of supporting Sankara Nethralaya, a charitable, not-for-profit ophthalmic hospital, in Chennai, India. Every year SN OM Trust, with the support from society at large, raises funds for Sankara Nethralaya by conducting various events.
A literary programme to recognize and honour Dr. Vidya Vencatesan, well-wisher of Sankara Nethralaya, was held at Sankara Nethralaya on December 28, 2009. Dr. Vidya Vencatesan was recently awarded the Le Chevalier des Palmes Académiques and the Le Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France for her contributions to the field of education and to the world of culture, both French and Indian, respectively.
Literarian and Padma Bhushan awardee Shri. Jayakanthan and noted journalist Smt. Sivashankari who graced the occasion spoke on “Aanmigamum Navinathuvamum”.
Describing the felicitation as a “blessing,” Dr. Vidya Vencatesan shared with the gathering her experiences in understanding the similarities between the ancient Indian culture and the rich French culture. According to her, “all humanity is one, languages are mere means of communication and each epic speaks of the eternal struggle of good against evil.”
Earlier on, Smt. Sivashankari urged the audience not to “worry about birth and death and to do things that will bring meaning to life.” She also spoke on the importance of self knowledge and “identifying oneself before identifying one’s role.”
Anaesthesiologists from leading Indian eye institutes have come together to establish a one-of-its kind forum — the Ophthalmic Forum of Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (OFISA).
Inaugurated by Prof. Chris Dodds, Academic Department of Anaesthesia, The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK, at Sankara Nethralaya on December 27, 2009, OFISA is affiliated to the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISA).
Delivering the inaugural lecture “Vision of the future: Ophthalmic Anaesthesia,” on the occasion, Prof. Chris Dodds said India would have to put together clear standards for ophthalmic care delivery for the elderly as the burden of common eye disorders among the elderly could increase three-fold in the coming decades. Later on, Prof. Chris Dodds unveiled the OFISA logo.
Prof. Chandra M Kumar, The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK; Dr. GV Rao, Director, ORBIS International, India; Dr. Babu Rajendran, President, All-India Ophthalmological Society and Dr. Manjushree Ray, President, ISA also participated at the inaugural function.
OFISA president and consultant, ophthalmic anaesthesiologist, Sankara Nethralaya, Dr. V. Jagadeesh, said the forum would promote quality anaesthesia for patients undergoing eye procedures and focus on collaborative research. The inaugural OFISA conference would be held in 2012.
Prof. Dodds presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ian Sundara Raj, consultant, ophthalmic anaesthesiologist, Sankara Nethralaya.
Genesis & Objectives
Stress on clear standards for delivery of eye care
The Hindu, December 28, 2009
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