May 2017

Hands-on Summer Training programme by the Vidyasagar Institute of Bio-Medical Science (8th – 26th May 2017)

The ‘Hands-on-summer training Programme” a critical part of Sankara Nethralaya’s ongoing knowledge dissemination initiatives, conducted annually by the Vidyasagar Institute of Bio-Medical Science (VIBS), a Unit of Medical Research Foundation (MRF) with an objective of imparting real time knowledge and experience to post graduate students in their chosen fields of specialization was conducted this year between 8thMay and 26th May 2017 at the Basic Medical Sciences Laboratories located in the Kamalnayan Bajaj Institute for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (KNBIRVO) Building at the Sankara Nethralaya Main campus. A total of 23 candidates registered for the program and were assigned as per their preference in the following specialty departments (6 in R.S. Mehta Jain Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 6 in SN ONGC Genetics & Molecular Biology and 11 in L & T Microbiology Research Centre).

All the participants performed well in the evaluation conducted at the end of the programme by the three departments where the training was imparted, giving a sense of professional fulfillment to the organizers and faculty members. Dr. K. Lily Therese, coordinator, VIBS organised the valedictory function on 26th May 2017 after the successful completion of the program. The participants were requested to share their impressions and experiences on the session to enable the organizers to gauge the effectiveness of the same and all of them gave a good feedback on the training imparted to them, rating it as excellent. The faculty members and the Scientists involved in conducting the programme also shared their interesting experiences with the students. The participants were highly satisfied with the ‘Hands on training programme’ and had a high word of praise for the faculty members who helped them to understand and learn the various advanced techniques. The participants were requested to share the acquired knowledge and impart the skills to their juniors and batch mates in their respective colleges, in keeping with Sankara Nethralaya’s philosophy of disseminating knowledge for the common good. Dr.H.N.Madhavan, Director and Senior Professor of Microbiology & VIBS & Dr.S.Mathavan, Head of SN ONGC Department of Genetics & Molecular Biology addressed the participants and distributed the certificates to the successful participants during the valedictory function.

The function came to an end with a warm Vote of Thanks by Dr. N.Angayarkanni, HOD, R.S.Mehta Jain Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. She expressed her gratitude to the faculty, scientists and technical staff involved in training the students, the management of Vision Research Foundation & Medical Research Foundation for providing the facility and the founder of VIBS, Padmashri Iravatham Mahadevan, I.A.S. for providing the wonderful opportunity to train Post graduate students from various Science & Arts Colleges & Research Institutions.

The function came to an end with a warm Vote of Thanks by Dr. N.Angayarkanni, HOD, R.S.Mehta Jain Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. She expressed her gratitude to the faculty, scientists
and technical staff involved in training the students, the management of Vision Research Foundation & Medical Research Foundation for providing the facility and the founder of VIBS, Padmashri
Iravatham Mahadevan, I.A.S. for providing the wonderful opportunity to train Post graduate students from various Science & Arts Colleges & Research Institutions.

A moment of crowning glory for an institution committed to alleviating pain and suffering through service with a ‘personal touch’!

It was a moment of great pride to the institution founded on the principle of cost free eye care to the rich and poor without disparity and with a personal touch, when the administrator of its community ophthalmology wing ‘Jaslok Community Ophthalmology Center’ (JCOC), Shri V.Sivakumar was honoured with the highly prestigious ‘Seva Ratna Award’ – 2016, by well known civic body and service organization ‘EXNORA INTERNATIONAL’. The award citation affirms that the man being honoured has made ‘the world a better place today’ through his stellar service, which succinctly captures the very essence and purpose of Sankara Nethralaya.

The award was presented by Honourable Justice M.V. Muralidharan, Judge, Madras High Court at a glittering award ceremony held on the 7th of May 2017 at Vani Mahal, T Nagar, in the August presence of Shri P.Durairasu, IFS, Additional Principal Conservator of Forests, Government of Tamil Nadu, Srimathi M.Vijayalakshmi, IAS, Deputy Commissioner–Health, Greater Chennai Corporation and Dr. M.B. Nirmal-Founder EXNORA INTERNATIONAL.

Let us put our hands together for a round of resounding applause and extend our hearty Congratulations to Shri V.Sivakumar on being conferred with this rare honour!

A path breaking study and investigation into the ‘Second biggest’ cause of blindness in the country!

While the fact that ‘cataract’ is the single largest cause for vision impairment in the country is now fairly common knowledge, not many would perhaps be aware that vision impairment caused due to failed cataract surgeries or post operative complications is the second largest contributor for the same! a disturbing fact that Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus and Founder Sankara Nethralaya often highlights in his talks, much to the amazement of the audience. The purpose of his observation is to lay a strong emphasis on the need for experience and expertise to perform a high quality cataract surgery, a seemingly simple vision revival procedure. Sankara Nethralaya his institution which can take pride in taking the battle against the biggest cause of blindness to the next level, with the revolutionary Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU) its strategic offensive against the ailment, in the most remote regions of the country, launched its offensive on the second largest contributor of vision impairment, by way of a high level symposium going into the depth of complications in cataract surgery, that come in the way of its success and outcome on the patient.

‘Cataract Catalyst’ – A course in the Management of Complications in Cataract Surgery’ opened to a packed audience at the ITC Grand Chola, Chennai on the 29th of April 2017. The event witnessed the participation of some of the biggest names in the field of ophthalmology like Professor Jeevan Titiyal, Dr Manju Kulkarni, Dr Mohan Rajan, Dr Sujatha Mohan, Dr Lalit Varma, Dr Minu Mathan and several others. As cataract surgeries are performed by surgeons from across all ophthalmic specialties, almost all the senior consultants and heads of every specialty at Sankara Nethralaya were in attendance, which made it a very special event.

The two day event gave an opportunity for surgeons from different ophthalmic specialties share the challenges they faced in performing cataract surgeries on patients with complications like ocular surface and other local disorders not directly related to cataract but nevertheless posing an issue to a successful cataract removal and IOL implantation process, surgical techniques to be adopted in challenging cases where cataract surgery had to be performed on patients with misalignment, patients with one functioning eye, myopia, close angle glaucoma, scleral fixation etc were taken for analysis, processes like Hoffman technique with penetrating keratoplasty, were discussed in length. A critical part of the deliberations was cases where the cataract surgery passes off as a routine process with no specific challenges but the patient develops vision issues, dysphotoptic symptoms, watering of the eye, instances where the vision is good during the immediate post operative period but deteriorates during glass appointment or later and these were taken for detailed discussion. The most important and informative part of the session capturing the spirit of the tag line of its title ‘Navigating turbulent waters – Masters to the rescue’ was the screening of challenging cases by individual surgeons and suggestions and solutions to overcome the same by the senior members from the panel. In short the two day event turned out to be a great learning experience, thanks to the vast exposure to diverse complications in cataract surgery that it provided to the participants and in-depth understanding of the subject enabled by the first hand sharing of their experiences in complexities in cataract surgery by specialists.