Sankara Nethralaya News
Association of Healthcare Providers of India and, ACME Consulting launch critical NABH entry level program at Sankara Nethralaya
In an effort to emphasize the need for Medicare quality to be under the structured framework stipulated by the national Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare providers (NABH), the Association of Health care providers in India (AHPI) along with ACME consulting, the well known providers of advisory services to service organisations in the area of quality improvement, particularly health care launched an entry level program for NABH accreditation for small and medium sized hospitals at a brief function held at the Sri VD Swami Auditorium, Sankara Nethralaya on 11th September 2015.
Welcoming the gathering, Senior General Manager Sankara Nethralaya Smt Akila Ganesan underlined that “Quality was the only thing” that needed adherence to, at all levels, to put a perfect, system driven procedure to practice.
Addressing the gathering Dr.Giridhar J Gyani, Director General, AHPI stressed the need for a structured framework like NABH to reduce medical errors that are currently at a whopping figure of 5.2 million annually, in the country. He hailed hospitals across Tamil Nadu that were in the ambit of NABH and pointed the need for all hospitals, whether big or small, to imbibe quality consciousness through such procedures. He had a high word of praise for the State Government’s Health schemes and stressed the importance of being linked only to Health care providers under the NABH entry level program/ NABH accredited hospitals to ensure quality of Medicare and service.
The event witnessed honouring of Dr Mala Raj, Managing Director of FIRM Hospitals, Anna Nagar for being the First Hospital in Chennai to be Accredited under the NABH Entry Level Standards. While Col Rajeev Mannali, Narayani Hospital, Dr V. Thiagarajan, BM Hospital, Ms Gayatri Sandeep, Seethapathi Hospital, shared their experiences in implementing the NABH Entry Level Standards, Mr C.S.Ramakrishnan, Chief Operating Officer, Mr Suresh Shenoy, Vice President, ACME Consulting spoke elaborately on the NABH Entry Level Standards & Implementation steps and AHPI’S Accreditation Assistance Program.Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya Dr. SS Badrinath, wished the program a great success and congratulated the participants who evinced keen interest to join the Entry level program of NABH.
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy conducts a niche session touching on the legal aspects of healthcare delivery on 12th September 2015.
Addressing the delegates, A Mahalingam, Deputy Registrar, The Sankara Nethralaya Academy, Unit of Medical Research Foundation, Chennai observed that this unique was intended to focus on challenges and issues in Health care sector and their related legal management for effective and smooth functioning of the institution.
Delegates at the Medico Legal Issues in Healthcare and Laws Related to Healthcare Administration Session
To precisely meet this objective of issues relating to legal aspects, medical negligence, consumer protection, Sankara Nethralaya Academy, conducted a session on “Medico Legal Issues in Healthcare and Laws Related to Healthcare Administration on 12th Sepetember 2015.
With the rapid emergence of corporatisation of health care sector, extremely demanding patient segment and insurance providers for health care management, it has become imperative now than ever before for those related to health, medicine, hospitals and hospital administrators, NGOs, Trust operating hospitals to adhere and execute appropriate policy matters with respect to medical care.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri D Samuel Abraham, Senior Law Officer, Christian Medical College, Vellore said it was critical for any hospital management to be equipped with expertise on laws governing medical practice, particularly to handle medico legal cases.
The power packed sessions included topics on “Medical Negligence and its consequences on the reputation of hospital”, “Informed Consent and its role in consumer cases”, “Application of Consumer Protection Act to Hospitals”, “Importance of Medical records”, “Medico legal cases and role of Medical profession”, “HR issues in Hospital Administration” handled by veterans Mr.D. Samuel Abraham, Senior Law Officer, who not only offered his rich knowledge and expertise with ease to the avid listeners, but also encouraged and welcomed interactive participation.
This session attendances included senior Administrative officers and Medical professionals and Healthcare Management Stuents from prestigious institutions
The utterly satisfied participants remarked that the sessions enabled better understanding of the nuances on the subject to handle subtle issues with real time scenarios from the experts, who delivered maximum content on the topics within short span of time.
Senior Sankara Nethralaya Consultants play critical role in imparting the finer nuances of teaching ophthalmology and evaluating its outcome.
The International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) and All India Ophthalmological Society’s (AIOS) Academic Research Committee (ARC) conducted nationwide workshops as part of their endeavour towards enhancing the quality of imparting ophthalmology as a subject and streamlining teaching and evaluation methodologies to bring about greater uniformity and impact through compliance to norms. The Tamil Nadu chapter of the program was held under the aegis of the Tamilnadu Ophthalmic Association and spearheaded by Senior Vitreo-Retinal consultant Dr. Pukhraj Rishi and Dr. Meenakshi Swaminathan, Senior Paediatric ophthalmologist and Director-Academics, Sankara Nethralaya was selected as the ‘Lead Instructor’, the program was conducted on 23rd August 2015 at Sankara Nethralaya main centre and was the first such workshop in South India. A total of 32 participants attended the meet.
The eagerly awaited academic program was inaugurated by Dr. Mohan Rajan, Chairman Academic Research Committee- Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic Association at 9:00am sharp. Dr. Renuka Srinivasan, HOD (Ophthalmology), JIPMER contributed significantly to the proceedings by sharing her long and vast experience in teaching and training. The participants evinced great interest in the highly interactive group activity being conducted at the program. It was a project-based learning, with different tasks being assigned to each group and the groups had to make a presentation within the allotted time. Dr. Katta from Hyderabad shared his thoughts about the ‘Misnomers’ in Ophthalmology. There was an interesting discussion on adapting the International Council of Ophthalmology’s norms to Indian conditions and standards. Dr. Venkatesh from AECS, Pondicherry suggested focusing and strengthening the training being offered currently in wet-labs. The representative from the sponsors, MS Appasamy Associates, spoke about ‘Ergonomics in the Operating Room’ with an interesting possibility of customized settings to suit the preference of individual surgeons.
Overall, the delegates were very appreciative with the academic content and the logistic arrangements made by Sankara Nethralaya the host institution and highly satisfied with the workshop and shared their highly positive feedback The success of the program could be gauged by the fact that there was a good demand by the participants for holding such workshops every year, with some of the delegates expressing their desire to make a repeat attendance. Pursuant to the successful workshop in Chennai, Dr. Meenakshi and Dr. Pukhraj Rishi the ARC representative for the South Zone visited Narayana Nethralaya, Bangalore to lend their expertise to the Teacher’s in Ophthalmology’ workshop being held there, by sensitizing teachers to better teaching and evaluation methodologies including the use of technology. Dr. Meenakshi played the role of Lead Instructor on behalf of the ICO for the Bangalore workshop too.
Slogans raised in support, message placards and a sunny walk on the beach reiterate Sankara Nethralaya’s commitment to eye donation.
Sankara Nethralaya’s eye donation awareness creation initiatives in lieu of ‘Eye Donation Awareness Fortnight’ being observed between August 25th– Sept 8th which took the form of lectures and a human chain rally came to a grand finale with the ‘Sankara Nethralaya Walk for Vision – 2015 on the 8th of September being observed as ‘National Eye Donation Day’. The walk generated enthusiastic response and a large gathering of 1,500 participants consisting working professionals, students etc converged at the Gandhi Statue at the Marina well in advance of schedule. Celebrity Chief Guest Kala master gave a brief talk on the need for eye donation and flagged off the walk at 9:00am, she joined fellow walkers raising their voice and placards for the cause of eye donation as they marched purposefully along the service road abutting the beach unmindful of the hot Sun. The walk concluded at the Kannagi Statue at Triplicane after which Dr T.S.Surendran, Vice-Chairman,Sankara Nethralaya gave a brief talk on the need for eye donation to overcome the current shortage of cornea needed for transplant surgeries, Shri Lakshminarayanan, Social Worker, CU Shah Eye Bank,Sankara Nethralaya also addressed the gathering and briefed the press on the bleak current scenario in terms of need and availability of cornea for transplant and the purpose of the walk. The awareness creation event conducted jointly with the Rotary Club received financial support from the Central bank of India, while ‘Bisleri’ the popular packaged water brand and ‘Goldwinner’ the leading edible oil company demonstrated their solidarity with the cause by providing free water bottles and sun caps to the participants.
Sankara Nethralaya lives up to ‘Eye Donation Fortnight’ with diverse activity
As an eye care institution in the forefront of creating awareness on the need for eye donation to prevent avoidable blindness since its inception, Sankara Nethralaya lived up to the spirit of ‘Eye Donation Fortnight’ being observed between August 25th-Sept 8th with great enthusiasm. The events marking the observation of the same were spearheaded by Shri G.Lakshminarayanan, Social Worker, CU Shah Eye Bank, Sankara Nethralaya Main campus. The fortnight long initiatives got off with talks on the need for eye donation by the Eye Bank Social Worker, addressing workmen at the Ford India and Hyundai Motor Companies, the former reciprocating by making available Sankara Nethralaya’s eye donation pledge forms online to its employees through its website, this was followed by a talk on the subject and the technicalities of eye harvest, preserving the cornea etc to the nurses of the Vijaya Hospital. Shri Lakshminarayanan was assisted in his efforts by Dr.Deviyani, Cornea Fellow who clarified the more complex medical related queries raised by the audience.
Sankara Nethralaya joined hands with the Rotary Club of Mount and conducted a highly successful human chain rally at the DG Vaishnav College, Arumbakkam, participated enthusiastically and in large numbers by students holding placards espousing the cause of eye donation, senior office bearers of the Rotary club including Rotarian Dr.R.Sriram, Major Dr.M.Venkatraman, Principal of the college, Srimathi Akila Ganesan, Senior General Manager, Sankara Nethralaya and her colleagues. The press was briefed by the senior participants at the end of the event. Lion S.N.Harinarayan, President ‘Sight First’ and long time friend and champion of Sankara Nethralaya‘s awareness creation endeavours in eye donation conducted a highly educative and absorbing meeting at the Conference Hall of the Sri V.Venugopal Block, Sankara Nethralaya main campus on the 5th of September 2015. The meeting was attended by senior office bearers of the Lions Club International Dist 324 A1, Lion Harinarayanan and Shri G.Lakshminarayanan, Social Worker of the CU Shah Eye bank addressed the gathering with in-depth talks on the need for eye donation and the abysmal demand and availability ratio prevailing today. This was followed by interesting talks by the senior Lion members assembled on the occasion on the causes of eye ailments, measures to be adopted, need to educate the general public on the need for eye donation etc. The highly interesting meeting ended with a question and answer session and a visit to the CU Shah Eye Bank.
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy conducts ‘Teacher’s Day’ with great reverence and enthusiasm
In India, 5th September is celebrated as Teachers Day as a mark of tribute to the contribution made by teachers to the society. It is the birthday of a great teacher Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was a staunch believer in education and was a well-known diplomat, scholar and the President of India and above all, a great Teacher.
Teacher’s day was celebrated with pomp and splendour at The Sankara Nethralaya Academy( TSNA), a unit of Medical Research Foundation, Chennai at its Vanagaram Campus. It was a day of gratitude and remembrance towards all the teachers who have shaped our lives
The Program started with a mellifluous invocation by Senior Lecturer Dr S Vandhana who invoked the Gods and praised the teachers through Vedic hymns. This was followed by a soulful rendition by the students of Sankara Nethralaya Academy who invoked Lord Ganesha for his blessings and divine Grace
Welcoming the gathering and the Chief Guest Dr. Susan Edward Joseph, MSc, M Ed,M Phil, Ph D , Former Principal of the Presidency Girl’s Higher Secondary School, Chennai, Mr. A Mahalingam, Deputy Registrar, explained the service orientation of Sankara Nethralaya under the visionary leadership of the Living Legend Padma Bhushan Dr. SS Badrinath. He briefed on the educational facilities and collaborations of the academy, for offering a purposeful education to the society, he also highlighted that the healthcare service sector is booming and that there are abundant career opportunities here, which he explained has made many institutions like the Sankara Nethralaya Academy to offer specialized courses in this sector to prepare students aspiring to be a part of this high growth industry.
Mrs Akila Ganesan, Senior General Manager – Sankara Nethralaya and Registrar of the SN Academy welcomed the Chief Guest Dr. Susan Edward Joseph the most distinguished ‘Chief Guest’ and most worthy Teacher on the occasion, she dwelt in-depth on the terms Guru which is coined by Gu and Ru.
She highlighted that Dr. Susan has donned several roles in an eventful career, she started as a Teacher, went on to become a headmistress at the Presidency Girls High School, became the Assistant Professor at the Holy Cross Home Science College, Tuticorin and the Divisional Education officer. Dr Susan left an indelible mark in every assignment that she handled, she was conferred the ‘Best Teacher Award’ for her high quality of work and the 65 schools under her showed, when she served as the district education officer, registered all round progress.
Delivering the Chief Guest’s address Dr Susan Edward Joseph had a special word of thanks to the teachers for imparting knowledge to all, she shared interesting anecdotes from her student days and exhorted the students to bring glory and fame to their teachers, she extolled the virtues of the teaching profession and appealed to teachers to take active part in character building of their students.
All teachers who are part of the SN Academy were felicitated on the occasion and the program ended with a Vote of Thanks by Mrs C G Sreedevi, Manager SN Academy and a group photo session
Director of Sankara Nethralaya’s Academics division enlightens readers of leading national daily on the options and scope of Ophthalmology as a study and a profession
Meenakshi Swaminathan, director, academics, Medical Research Foundation – Sankara Nethralaya, speaks with Sangeetha Nambiar about ophthalmology as a study and career option.
Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and treatment of eye-related ailments. Over the years, the field of ophthalmology has seen much advancement, including developments in cataract surgery and increased precision in surgeries.
Undergraduates do not gain much exposure to the subject of ophthalmology. Hence, it is important for them to specialise in the subject. Ophthalmology is taught as a postgraduate-level course to train students to become specialists in medical treatment, complex microsurgery and other aspects of eye care. Those who wish to make a career in this field can opt for an MS, a Diplomate of National Board (DNB), or a diploma in ophthalmic medicine and surgery (DOMS). The All India Institute of Medical Sciences offers an MD in ophthalmology as well.
A member of the Elite School of Optometry’s founding team and one of its driving forces wins high recognition from prestigious international body.
Dr S.Ramaswamy who has his pride of place as being among the pioneers and stalwarts who helped in realizing the dream of Dr SS.Badrinath of setting up an exclusive, world class school of optometry (ESO) and continues to serve the institution as its distinguished professor of Anatomy has been awarded the ‘Diploma in Fellowship’ (FRCS) by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Dr S.Ramaswamy is also a visiting Professor at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi and has earlier been honoured with a ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ by The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University for his significant contribution to the world of medicine. Besides being an authority on Anatomy, he is also an accomplished Hypno Psycho Therapist and has authored some well known books on the subject titled – SAI AM I, I AM SAI and Hypnos Nytt
The Sankara Nethralaya family expresses its profound gratitude to the veteran teacher for rendering his continued service to the Elite School of Optometry, salutes him on this great achievement and looks forward to many more years of guidance and support from him.
The Elite School of Optometry holds its international conference with great aplomb and class
The large and diverse gathering assembled at the ‘Confluence – Banquets & Resorts’ the grand venue of the Elite School’s International Vision and Optometry Conference, on the 14th of August 2015 was a shining testimony to the great success of the institution’s basic endeavour of bringing ‘Optometry,’ the arithmetic, art and science of light and vision, centre stage and find a glorious place for it in the rarefied realm of academia, the dream of its founding fathers. The large gathering comprising students, practitioners of optometry, veteran tutors, the participative agenda, the celebrations planned as a retreat on the lighter side were a sign of the tireless efforts, meticulous planning and enthusiasm of the organizing team consisting of optometrists, lecturers and students of the Elite School of Optometry led by its vibrant Principal Dr R.Krishna Kumar.
The most keenly awaited program started on the dot of schedule with a most mellifluous invocation by Ms. Shwetha Mohanakrishnan, who runs a school of music in the neighbourhood. Indelible memories and great moments from the glorious history of the institution including its inception were shared by Dr T.S Surendran, Vice-Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya and Professor Lakshminarayanan, two veterans who had played a pivotal role in the formation of the institution. They captured the momentous events and the contribution of key architects like Dr. K. Ravishankar, Professor S. Ramaswamy, Professor Veeraraghavan, Professor PP.Santanam, Professor Sumathi Narayanan, Professor E.Vaithilingam and Professor Enoch which led to the seed idea of the great visionary Dr. SS.Badrinath to start a world class institution of optometry in India a reality. Professor Lakshminarayanan also gave an interesting account of year 2015 being declared as the ‘Year of Light’ by the United Nations and celebrations of the same across the globe.
The moving force and prime architect of the international conference, Dr. Krishna Kumar, Principal ESO and Chairperson EIVOC-2015 started his address on a vibrant note quoting late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s immortal lines from his epic work ‘Wings of Fire’, he recalled the vision of Dr SS.Badrinath to set up an exclusive institution for optometry and the selfless work of Dr T.S.Surendran and other stalwarts in making his vision a reality. The Head of ESO quickly summarized the objectives of the EIVOC-2010, the previous international conference conducted by the ESO as an update on Dispensing Optics, Visual issues in special children and the current EIVOC-2015 as a spotlight on Neuro-Optometric rehabilitation, optometric education and growth of optometry. Expressing his satisfaction at the impressive growth of the institution and its services he observed that it still had miles to go. He concluded his talk with the observation that the best tribute to the founding fathers of ESO would be to explore indigenous, affordable eye care, become socially accountable, interactive and take the benefits of optometry to humanity at large.
Exhibiting a rare mastery over the ancient scriptures Srimathi Akila Ganesan, Senior General Manager, Sankara Nethralaya quoted with felicity from the Vedas the ancient treatises of wisdom to underline her point that ‘desire’ is the driving force of everything, which included the journey from darkness to light. Showering praise on the authors of the three books being released on the occasion, she lauded Professor P.P.Santanam as the ‘Father of Occupational Optometry’ in India, she fondly recalled her association with Dr. Rajeswari Mahadevan as her student and colleague and had a high word of praise for Srimathi Sarika Gopalakrishnan, Head of the Low Vision Clinic at Sankara Nethralaya for imbibing the scientific temperament and spirit of late Dr.E.Vaithilingam. The senior management member made a fervent appeal to the optometrists gathered to ask the question ‘How can i improve the quality of life of my fellow human beings’ to themselves everyday and ended her talk with the lines from the Vedas ‘May our Study be Enlightening’.
The spiritualist, master, celebrated personality development guru and Founder of ‘Infinitheism’ and Chief Guest of the day Shri Mahatria Ra started off his address with an exuberant Happy Evening!! to the audience, he created a ripple with his opening statement that Doctors must be ‘Felt’ more than being seen; they and their clinics, he expressed emphatically must exude positive energy and confidence which could be felt. He expressed his high respect for Dr. SS.Badrinath and Dr K.V.Thiruvengadam for their humility and down to earth attitude not affected by their Himalayan achievements. Shri Mahatria Ra underlined the importance of inculcating leadership as a quality, standing apart from the crowd and not compromising on anything in life, adding that if not for these qualities the world would have had a good eye surgeon in the form of Dr SS.Badrinath but not Sankara Nethralaya the institution he founded. He cautioned that unless we are tough on ourselves the world will get tough on us. The star speaker shared his knowledge in pearls of wisdom explained in a simple manner, he advised the audience to keep the student in them live by making learning a lifelong process, he advocated the audience to look at the bigger picture by linking their individual growth with the society’s growth, setting the most exacting standards in their professional lives, inculcating high work ethics beyond the call of HR compliance.
The momentous inaugural function marking the beginning of three days of scientific deliberations, lectures, debates and exchange of ideas combined with a cultural retreat and lot of fun, interaction and sightseeing came to an end with a warm Vote of Thanks by Shri S.Viswanthan, DGM Optical services and Optometry, he expressed his sincere thanks to the eminent Chief guest, dignitaries from all over the world, the corporate sponsors for their patronising the event and the organizing team of the Elite School of optometry for the memorable event.
The three day high level sessions that followed at the picturesque venue by the sea was attended by more than 1250 participants, 82 speakers, witnessed 11 plenary talks, 36 talks in symposia, 17 workshops and 13 expert interaction sessions, the conference was on par with international standards. Keeping up with the theme of the conference ‘Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya’ which means “From darkness unto Light”, every session was planned to enlighten the delegates and upgrade them from their current practice. In-depth sessions were held on new areas like Neuro- Optometry and Occupational Optometry, introduced for the first time in India by the ESO. A group of 13 universities from India and abroad briefed the students on higher education through the session “Golden opportunities globally”. A total of 112 posters and 43 papers were presented and the Best scientific presentation prizes were bagged by Ms. Neha Gupta, Elite School of Optometry in the student category and Mr. Vinay Nilagiri, L.VPrasad Eye Institute in the regular category.
The placid environs of IIT-Madras come live to the spirit of caring and giving
It was a rhythm of compassion and caring as thousands of pairs of feet, young, old, middle-age and even tiny tots, covered in trendy sports shoes, simple chappals, slip- ons and even barefoot hit the mud track at the lush and serene environs of IIT-Madras at 8:00am sharp on the 23rd of August 2015. Chennaiites were expressing their solidarity and kinship in the battle against cancer by participating in the ‘Terry Fox Run’ the ‘Marathon of Hope’ for millions of cancer patients the world over, they were paying their tributes to the undying spirit of two young men, Terrance Stanley Fox the indomitable young Canadian who ran thousands of miles in the most inhospitable weather, continued to run even after one of his legs was amputated to raise awareness on cancer and in whose name the Terry Fox run is being conducted across the world and Akash Dube the young man who exhibited exemplary courage in the face of adversity, a young man who looked at death without fear and took the news of his critical condition in his stride. Akash Dube had done a good lot of research in cancer prevention and treatment and dreamed of finding a cure for the ailment in his life time. He ideated the run in India and participated with enthusiasm before he succumbed to the disease.
The Chennai chapter of the Terry Fox Run attracted large participation from all walks of life, notable among them being Judith Terrance Fox, sister of Terrance Stanley Fox, Lt Col Jasbir Singh Raina, Shri Ravi Das and Shri Badrinarayanan of the Rotary Club of East Madras who had played a major role in organizing the event, the run was supported by IIT-Madras and the Cancer Institute.