The Sankara Nethralaya Academy conducts a niche session on ‘Accreditation for Hospitals’ for healthcare management executives on 20th June 2015, Saturday.
Shri C S Ramakrishan, Chief Operating Officer, ACME Consulting (Healthcare Quality Consultancy) at the Accreditation session
The session started with a warm welcome and the need for hospital accreditations for healthcare professional managers by Shri A. Mahalingam, Deputy Registrar of the academy and also introduction of the speaker Shri C S Ramakrishan, for his kind acceptance and support to our academy.
Mr. Ramakrishnan, – Chief Operating Officer & Senior Consultant – Quality Management Systems & Information Security and Management Systems, At ACME CONSULTING, he has been involved for about 8 years, directly heading all the NABH Projects of Acme and all the Quality Improvement Projects of ACME being done for the National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC), overseeing the ISO 9001 Certification Projects of NHSRC in the North East Indian States of Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh and at 48 Primary Health Centres in Tamil Nadu.
A Post Graduate from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur is in charge of day to day operations at Chennai. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from the Loyola College Of Business Administration and is a qualified Lead Auditor for the ISO 27001:2005 ISMS, for Information Security and Management Systems
He was part of a large team of multi-national consultants, carried out Viability studies for industrial clusters across Sultanate of Oman, covering 165 industrial units, representing about 45 industry types. The study was spread over 6 months using interview methodology, analysis of financial performance, market analysis, infrastructure studies, etc. The study identified major causes of non-performing industrial units and provided recommendations for revival, wherever possible and a sense of direction for future industrialization of Oman. He is also a Lean Management expert, handling the Lean Management initiatives for Healthcare.
The session was meant to educate and create awareness on the critical need for quality accreditation for health care institutions in an increasingly competitive healthcare marketplace and a highly demanding patient base, among health care managers, healthcare entrepreneurs currently operating their own health care institutions and individuals and corporate bodies planning to enter into this fast growing and high potential field.
The session covered the entire gamut of quality and work flow processes and practices both clinical and non-clinical, from minute details like employee educational credentials to installation of advanced equipment imperative for accreditation by prestigious certifying bodies both national and international.
Accreditation is a clear indication of the quality and capability and a stamp of high standard of hospitals in India; it is an indication of world class treatment to patients and would gradually boost Medical Tourism in India. The accreditation brings in the much needed credibility as it symbolizes quality, it helps in branding of the hospital, enhances hospital value and reliability making India truly a great Medical Tourism destination.
Delegates included Hospital Administrators, Doctors, Nurses, Quality Managers from various Private, Mission and Public sector hospitals who interactively participated stood to gain and share the knowledge in the field of accreditation Process.
The Speaker enumerated on 10 important NABH Stands viz.,
• Access, Assessment & Continuity of Care (AAC)
• Care of Patient (COP)
• Management of Medication (MOM)
• Patient Rights & Educations (PRE)
• Hospital Infection Control (HIC)
• Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
• Responsibility of Management (ROM)
• Facility of Management & Safety (FMS)
• Human Resource Management (HRM)
• Information Management System (IMS)
The speaker also highlighted the various benefits of NABH Accreditations for the Patients, Institutions and third parties like healthcare insurance sector and at the end of the session the delegates shared their learning experiences and feedback of this unique session.
At the end of the session, Shri A. Mahalingam & Shri C S Ramakrishnan made a quick announcement about the forthcoming 12 weekends Certificate Course in Healthcare Quality Management by the TSNA– the 2nd batch to be conducted in collaboration with the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI), New Delhi and ACME Consulting (Healthcare Quality Consultancy) Chennai which would be commencing from 18th July 2015 and requested the participants to visit www.thesnacademy.ac.in to know more and to apply online.
Lions club of Central Madras and Sankara Nethralaya reiterate their firm resolve to eradicating blindness on ‘Helen Keller Day’.
If there is anything as noble and as worthy as alleviating the pain and suffering of humanity, it is the act of helping, encouraging, facilitating and funding such initiatives. The Lions Clubs International are known for their ‘Intelligent Philanthropy’ a phrase used by Shri Gopal Krishna Gandhi, illustrious diplomat and grandson of the Mahathma to highlight charity where every dollar or rupee reaches the gold standard in service. They have a knack of identifying and bringing crusaders and champions working silently and unnoticed in the most remote regions under the limelight and honouring them. It was a vivid demonstration of this quality to identify and honour the spirit of service, compassion and sacrifice, so intrinsic and central to healthcare delivery which occupied centre stage at the ‘Helen Keller Remembrance’ and ‘Dr G.Sitalakshmi Gift of sight Award’ day at the Sri V.D.Swami Auditorium, Sankara Nethralaya main campus on the 15th of June 2015 by the Lions Club of Madras Central 324A1 and Sankara Nethralaya.
The day’s proceedings got off to a great start with the Lions Oath of allegiance and a silent prayer for world peace by the Lions and the entire gathering. Introducing the dignitaries on the dais Lion Captain G.N.Venkat Rajaram, President, Lions Club of Central Madras, lauded the spirit of Helen Keller which had manifested in the perseverance and courage of Ms Beno Zephine the first visually challenged IAS officer, Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari who swam against the current of diversity to become the first visually challenged to reach the position of District Collector and Karthik Sawhney the visually impaired youngster who had strived hard in his academics in spite of his handicap as a reward of which he was selected by the world famous Stanford University to pursue a course in computer science. He cited these as the very epitome of the indomitable courage and hope displayed by Helen Keller in whose honour and memory the day was being observed. A spell binding and riveting short movie capturing the epic of Helen Keller making her historic appeal at the Lions International Convention at Chicago where she describes dispensing eye care as a ‘Challenge’ and an ‘Opportunity’ was screened thanks to the efforts of Lion S.N.Harinarayanan, President-Sight First. Dispensing eye care had become a challenge and an opportunity to Lions worldwide after this watershed meeting.
Senior Cornea Consultant Dr. Swetha Agarwal fondly recalled the yeoman services and passion of Dr G.Sitalakshmi who pioneered the MOOKP process in India, she described her as a ‘Charismatic doctor’ and the ‘Goddess of the Temple of the Eye’. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest PMJF Lion N.S. Sankar, International Director, Lions Club International described Lion Dr.SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya as a man of extraordinary and selfless service. The hard work, planning and sincerity of Lion S.N. Harinarayanan, MJF, District Chairperson-Diabetic Retinopathy Detection, Lions Club of Central Madras were highlighted by every Lion speaker; he was lauded as the pillar and backbone of the function. Lion Harinarayanan thanked the speakers and utilized the occasion to express his personal and the Lions Clubs gratitude to the personnel at Sankara Nethralaya for their unflinching support to him and the Lions Clubs initiatives by honouring them with gifts which were given away by senior Lions Club office bearers. Doctors and hospitals offering their service in the remote parts of the country and bringing about a change in the quality of lives of the socially and economically backward sections of society were honoured with the ‘Knights of the blind’ and ‘Dr.G.Sitalakshmi gift of sight award’ by the Chief Guest and dignitaries gathered on the occasion.
The Sankara Nethralaya family salutes the doctors and paramedics and institutions chosen for this rare honour and takes great pride and pleasure in sharing the same below
“I (EYE) CARE” Award. to:
• Lions Karnavati SVP Eye Hospital, Ognaj, Ahamadabad, Gujarat,.
• Kalapataru Lions Nashik, Maharashtra.
“KNIGHT OF THE BLIND” Awards.
• Dr Smita Dheer,l Lions Karnavati SVP Eye Hospital, Ognaj, Ahmadabad,Gujarat..
Dr. G.Sitalaksmi Gift of Sight Award.
•Dr Sharad Patil, Kalpataru Lions Eye Hospital, Nashik, Maharashtra.j.
The ‘Temple of the Eye’ observes the 122nd Jayanthi of its patron saint and divine force by doing ‘Madhava Seva’
The Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU) the first of its kind ‘operation theatre on wheels’ in Asia, a medico-engineering marvel developed jointly with IIT-Madras and its dedicated outdoor community ophthalmology team embarked on yet another historic trip in their journey towards eradicating blindness in the rural pockets of India by dispensing high quality eye care, totally cost free, right at the doorsteps of the visually impaired on the 5th of June 2015. The camp being conducted at Orikkai village in Kanchipuram District jointly with Ms Kuehne Nagel the well known global logistics and business enterprise company, and under the auspices of the Kanchi Mutt assumed great significance since the locale was regularly frequented by the Mahaswami. The MESU camp started on the 6th of June 2015 and received enthusiastic response with a large number of residents from Orikkai and the neighbouring areas turning up for eye screening and remedial care. A function celebrating the camp and the 122nd birth anniversary of His Holiness Mahaperiyava Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi was held at the ‘Kanchi Mahaswami Manimandapam’ at 5:00pm on the 10th of June under the reverential auspices of the Kanchi Pontiffs, His Holiness Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal and His Holiness Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal.
The senior management team of Dr. SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Dr S.Bhaskaran, Chairman, Dr. TS.Surendran, Vice-Chairman, Dr KS.Vasan, MD from Sankara Nethralaya and Ms Rekha Narayanan and Ms. Lakshmi Iyer of Kuhne Nagel participated in the function. Speaking on the occasion Dr S.S.Badrinath thanked the sponsors of the camp and expressed his respectful Pranams to the Kanchi Acharyas present at the venue, a man who never for a minute forgets the support of well wishers and friends he thoughtfully mentioned to the gathering that the day happened to be the birthday of Shri Rahul Bajaj one of the institution’s most generous supporters and sought the blessings of the Swamijis for his long and healthy life. He highlighted the yeoman service rendered by the mobile eye surgical unit in the most remote regions of the country and lauded the sincere efforts and technical expertise of Colonel N.Raghavan, Advisor- Projects, Sankara Nethralaya for being the driving force and chief architect of the ‘MESU’ from the Sankara Nethralaya side, he thanked him for his services and warmly invited him to take the blessings of the Kanchi Acharyas. Colonel Raghavan paid his humble pranams and received the blessings of the Sages. A highlight of the function was the video release of ‘Vidiyal’-‘Dawn of Hope’ a real life and poignant portrayal of Sankara Nethralaya’s cost free community service through the ‘MESU’ as perceived by a beneficiary, produced by Shri Badri Surendran, son of Dr TS.Surendran, Vice-Chairman Sankara Nethralaya. The video was released by His Holiness Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal and the first copy of the same was received by Dr.SS.Badrinath to the thunderous ovation of the gathering. The Pontiffs of the Kanchi Mutt blessed the gathering and the eye camp and delivered their Anugrahabashanam. The program was presented by ardent devote of Mahaperiyava, Srimathi Revathi Sankaran, the well known TV personality and friend of Sankara Nethralaya, she moved the hearts of the gathering with a soulful rendering of ‘Maithi Bajathi’ the timeless melody of Srimathi M.S.Subbulakshmi, rendered at the United Nations.
We take great pleasure in sharing the details of the camp with our readers
Duration of camp – 5th to 15th of June 2015
Total number of people screened- 773
Total number of patients diagnosed as needing cataract surgery- 279
Total number of patients found physically unfit for surgery and referred to the base hospital to prepare them for surgery – 54
Total number of patients referred to base hospital for detailed evaluation and cross consultation for other eye ailments– 194
Total number of cataract surgeries performed – 158
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy Conducted a Session on Total Quality Management in Healthcare on 13.06.2015.
Dr T V Subramaniam delivering a lecture on Total Quality Management
This penultimate session handled by Dr T V Subramaniam dealt with various principles, processes and performance measure that constitute Total Quality Management.
Quality Guru & Sankara Ratna Dr TV Subramaniam( Dr TVS) is currently the Chairman Board of Studies at Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy and Visiting faculty at IIFMR,Chennai & Sankara Nethralaya Academy With a PhD from IIM Ahmedabad he has to his credit, 38 years of Corporate & Management consulting, training & teaching, Having handled around 50 major consultancy assignments for public & private sector organizations and conducted more than 600 management development programmes, he is also the recipient of the Honorary Fellow Award for Significant contribution from the Indian Institute of Materials Management.
The origin of Quality Assurance could be traced to the Inspection Era, wherein the product was inspected for compliance to acceptable standards. This later gave way to process inspection and finally the inputs that go into the processing of a product, were surveyed for standards in quality. Quality Control refers to the procedure of identification of the defects at the end of the entire processing whereas Quality Assurance and Quality Standards happen in the preventive phase of processing to avoid wastage of resources.
The growth and development of an organization depends on the level of co-ordination and design of its processes and policies to ensure that all activities that take place within are working in tandem towards a common goal. In a healthcare setting, the complexity of these co-ordination increases due to the nature of business, volume of patients, use of technology along with manual inputs, logistic hurdles and so on. Therefore it is all the more important to set up stringent standards to assess quality in such processes that deal with human life.
This is particularly unique to the hospital industry because here, the product and the end-user are the same ie., the patient himself. The customer is an observer of all activities of the organization; therefore he is in a stronger position to question discrepancies immediately unlike the manufacturing sectors. Yet another significant difference between other industries and healthcare is the value of the human element involved. Patient profiles are not defined unlike inputs in other segments that are clearly pre-defined.
The basic tenet of good quality service is to meet and then exceed customer expectations. The customer in a healthcare industry refers to the patient. The care delivered should be right the first time, every time and on time so that the maximum benefit is achieved.
Some of the guiding principles for good total quality management were elucidated with insightful illustrations.
• The most important being total customer focus, therefore all policies, plans and systems of all people in the organization should be trained towards securing a positive outcome of good judgement by the customer. If the patient is a customer to the entire hospital network, then the employee too is a customer in the context of the inter-departmental work that goes on in a hospital.
• Yet another important principle to keep in mind is the continual pursuit of excellence in quality of services by taking small measurable steps towards perfection.
• Quality Management is important to strengthen every part of the process to ensure enhanced output to the customer and also to help decision making and deploy action based on the analysis and interpretation of relevant information collected.
• Cross-functional perspective refers to the inter-related activity approach as every person/activity affects and in turn is affected by others.
• The Deming wheel of PDCA – PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT – can be a useful tool for achieving overall efficiency in the organization.
IDEA APPROACH:
An innovative and valuable method to sustain standards in patient quality care would be to involve every employee of the healthcare organization in decisions and development of the organization by inculcating a sense of belonging. This will bring about total employee involvement and will in turn help in identifying and channelizing their potential for the betterment of the hospital.
To ensure continuous development of not just the hospital but the employee within, it is important to continually encourage the employees by asking for their suggestions, guiding them and then delegating responsibilities, after imparting requisite knowledge and skills training.
A sure formula for retention of good quality workforce is the note of appreciation of exceptional efforts put in by an employee in the event of a difficult situation.
Adequate training should be planned to impart not just conceptual knowledge to staff but to apply it to real-time contexts while keeping the organization’s vision in focus. This, together with the imbibed values, behavior and attitude of the person at work, will surely contribute to a substantially improved performance.
PROBLEM-SOLVING STEPS:
Any crisis at work should be resolved not just rationally, but also effectively and efficiently. There could be several ways to resolve any critical situation in a department but it is usually optimal to have a quality circle with at least one external member to continually monitor the performance.
An effective approach to any policy-decision making should involve the following:
Analysis refers to the existing process documentation.
Measurement of baseline process performance data is crucial to identifying gaps in performance and will set scope for improvement.Setting up improvement goals and working towards development and implementation of the same initially on a trial basis.Evaluation consists of assessing the impact and then standardizing the process with periodic monitoring.
The session was enriched throughout with the enlightening anecdotes from the extensive experience of the speaker, thanks to his varied professional associations spanning several decades. The participants found the session to be lively and thought-provoking.
The high power Session on Total Quality Management in Healthcare closed with a Vote of Thanks by Mr A Mahalingam, Deputy Registrar – The Sankara Nethralaya Academy.
VIBS – Valedictory function of Hands-on Summer Training programme(18th – 5th June 2015)
Date : 5th June 2015
Venue: Lecture Hall, I Floor KNBIRVO Building
The Hands-on-summer training programme for Post graduate students was conducted by the Vidyasagar Institute of Bio-Medical Science(VIBS) a Unit of Medical Research Foundation between 18th May and 5th June 2015. A total of 13 participants from leading Arts and Engineering colleges and Universities namely Women’s Christian College, Chennai (5), Sastra University, Thanjavur (1), Jeppiaar Engineering College, Chennai(1) Rajalakshmi Engineering College (2), AMET University, Chennai(2), Vels University, Chennai (1) & Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai (1) underwent training. The participants were assigned to various Research departments namely the R.S. Mehta Jain Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology (4), SN ONGC Genetics & Molecular Biology (4) L & T Microbiology Research Centre (5). .
The participants performed well in the evaluation at the end of the programme by all three departments. They gave a good feedback on the training programme during the valedictory function conducted on 5th June 2015. The faculty from the respective departments appreciated the enthusiasm and involvement with which the participants learnt the techniques. The participants were requested to share the acquired knowledge and impart the skills to their juniors and colleagues in their respective colleges. All the faculty members and the Scientists involved in conducting the programme shared their experience with the students.
The function came to an end with a warm Vote of Thanks by Dr.K. Lily Therese, Programme Co-ordinator, VIBS. She gratefully acknowledged the faculty, scientists and technical staff involved in training the students and 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 the Post graduate students from various Science & Arts Colleges & Research Institutions.
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy conducted a Session on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Healthcare on 30th May 2015.
Prof T. Ramanan delivering a lecture on ICT
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy, a unit of medical Research Foundation, Chennai conducted a session ICT in Healthcare on 30th May 2015 by Prof T. Ramanan M. SC. IT and MBA Technology Management – a seasoned and multi-faceted professional who brings with him an expertise on diverse areas and subjects like Information Technology, leveraging the same effectively in various industries, product development in satellite industry, IT support, training and business development.
The Session presented an in depth picture of how Information & Communication Technology has seamlessly blended into the Healthcare Delivery process and how it has simplified the access and update of Medical Record of the patient from anywhere/anytime.
He spoke in detail on the deployment of ICT in various areas of Healthcare, like Quality Medical Service Delivery, technology enabled onsite/offline Education methodologies; the Clinical Decision Support Systems to supplement the diagnosis process and in Tele medicine to reach out Medical Care to the door step of the rural Poor.
Mr A. Mahalingam, the Deputy Registrar of the Sankara Nethralaya Academy took this opportunity to thank the participants for their cooperation and wished them successful completion of the session.
At the end of the session, Shri A. Mahalingam made a quick announcement about the forthcoming 12 weekends Certificate Course in Healthcare Quality Management by the TSNA– the 2nd batch to be conducted in collaboration with the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI), New Delhi and ACME Consulting (Healthcare Quality Consultancy) Chennai which would be commencing from 18th July 2015 and requested the participants to visit www.thesnacademy.ac.in to know more and to apply online.
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy conducts a niche session touching on the legal aspects of healthcare delivery on 6th June 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.
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 6th June 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 from prestigious institutions
like Port Trust Hospital,J K Hospital,Porur Child health Clinic,Tata Consultancy Services,Seethapathi Hospital,Tirame Technology Pvt Ltd
Mehta Hospitals,Saradha Nursing Home,Deepam Hospitals, Chrompet
Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Limited,A.V. Diabetic Centre & Nirmals Eye Hospital, Tambaram, Chennai
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.
A proud Alma Mater honours its worthy Alumnus for his exceptional feat
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand – quoting Vince Lombardi, Dr Drishti Parekh, the day’s compeer welcomed the gathering assembled to felicitate Dr. Mohan Rajan, Chairman, Rajan Eye Hospital and an old student and friend and well wisher of Sankara Nethralaya, on his being conferred the highly prestigious “Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons” at the Sri V D Swami Auditorium on 13th May 2015.
Following the mellifluous rendition of the invocation by Dr S R Bharathi Devi, Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Bio Chemistry, Dr R. Srikanth, Associate Consultant at the Pediatric Department rendered the welcome address highlighting that the honouring of Dr.Mohan Rajan was truly a moment of great joy and pride for one and all at Sankara Nethralaya.
Dr Pramod Bhende, Deputy Director, Vitreo Retinal Services, introduced Dr Mohan Rajan as a man of many achievements to his credit. He described Dr. Mohan Rajan as a proud Alumnus of Sankara Nethralaya, and the person who heads the Rajan Eye Care Hospital as its Chairman and Managing Director. He lauded that the recipient being honoured for his great achievement has held distinguished positions at the American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, European Society of Cataract & Refractive surgeons. He pointed that Dr Mohan Rajan has served as the Examiner for Diplomate in National Board and as adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology at The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University and has over 450 papers published to his credit and won several accolades including the prestigious Capt Subramanium Gold Medal for the video “Evolution of Cataract Surgery”, Paul Harris Fellow Award, Sundareswarar Endowment Lecture Award, Centenarian Seva Ratna Trust Award and Young Achievers Award to name a few. Dr Pramod Bhende highlighted that as a warm and kind hearted person Dr Mohan Rajan had a special inclination for Community ophthalmology services. The Fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons was truly a proud feather to his cap, he concluded.
Felicitating Dr Mohan Rajan for his glorious achievement, Dr SS Badrinath said, Dr Mohan Rajan held Sankara Nethralaya close to his heart and conveyed his sincere thanks for his sincere fund raising efforts.
Introducing Dr K Jagadeesan, Chairman, K J Hospital Research & Post Graduate Centre, Dr P S Srimathi, Retd Prof, HOD – Pediatric Cardio Thoracic Surgery, Institute of Child Health and hospital for children and currently at K J Hospitals, said Dr Jagadeesan was a man of many firsts. He had to his credit of being a premier in concept of corporate hospitals in India and recipient of Dr BC Roy National Award in recognition of best services in the field of Medical organizations and Institutions, Life time Achievement Awards in recognition of his pioneering services. He held the prestigious position of being Honorary Overseas Advisor to Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, UK since 1990. Dr K. Jagadeesan had been in the forefront in creating a personalized vaccine, a crucial tool in helping patients by injecting a vaccine of their own tumor, a new approach to cancer treatment.
In his address, Dr Jagadeesan, traced the genesis of Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons founded by Dr Peter Lowe after receiving a Royal Charter from King James VI in 1599. He had a high word of praise for Dr SS Badrinath, a visionary in ophthalmology and how he felt impressed to recommend Dr Mohan Rajan’s outstanding candidature for the FRCS.
Introducing the Chief Guest of the Day, Dr Iraianbu IAS, Prinicipal Secretary/ Commissioner, Department of Economics and Statistics, Government of Tamilnadu, Dr T S Surendran, Vice Chairman, remarked in a lighter vein that all of us strived hard for both இரை – prey, daily food and இறை – divine அன்பு – affection, bliss. He was an icon of simplicity and versatility. His oration on management and living and writings inspired many youngsters, he said.
In his address, the Chief Guest Dr. Iraianbu started by inquiring “Why do we honour a person already honoured”, to which he laid a simple logic saying “honouring a man already honoured makes one feel honoured, elated and rejoiced”. He added that Dr Mohan Rajan fully deserved the glorious fellowship conferred on him for the sheer dint of hard work and perseverance to have a set a remarkable record of 80,000 cataract, 6000 glaucoma, 10,000 Vitreo Retinal and 5,000 penetrating keroplasty surgeries to his credit. He went on to add interesting aspects of human eye that contributed to 80% of information receipts and the importance of eye brows that served as a protection to the eyes and played an important role in non-verbal communication. Dr. Iraianbu added that the development of LASIK enhanced tuning of the eyes to focus far off ships during warfare and how the dilated pupil of models made advertisements impressive.
Dr Iraianbu stated he was impressed that India, particularly hospitals in the South, such as Sankara Nethralaya contributed to Medical Tourism by serving people all over the globe and through the length and breadth of the country.
In his acceptance speech, a visibly emotional Dr Mohan Rajan, quoting former President Abdul Kalam “to traverse the road less travelled”, said, for the Alumni of Sankara Nethralaya, the “path to travel” had already been clearly laid by their Guru Dr SS Badrinath. He went on to add that by dedication of the alma mater, the institution had grown par excellence. The ethical standards maintained by Sankara Nethralaya were to be emulated by one and all, for excelling in the field of Ophthalmology. He remarked that Dr SS Badrinath had brought in classism to Ophthalmology and history would chronicle the field as “before” and “after” Dr Badrinath.
Dr Mohan Rajan emphasised the contribution from philanthropists was the need of the hour for colossal projects of Sankara Nethralaya both at Chennai and Kolkata, to serve the society.
The grand evening concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr Shikha Rajesh Bassi, Deputy Director, Neuro Ophthalmology Department.
The World of Vitreo-Retina salutes its doyens!
It was wonderful co-incidence and a moment to cherish, rejoice and celebrate as Dr. SS.Badrinath, Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Dr.P.N.Nampermalsamy, Chairman Emeritus, Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai and Dr. P.N. Nagpal, Founder& Director, Retina Eye Foundation, Ahmedabad the three pioneers and grandmasters in the field of vitreo-retina, who had dedicated their life to teaching, training, research and practising of this most critical branch of ophthalmology entered their Platinum Anniversary -75th year of their momentous lives. The entire vitreo-retina fraternity in the country joined hands to exhibit their respect, regard, gratitude and admiration to the leading lights in the field of vitreo-retina. They gave a collective standing ovation to the three stalwarts and their contribution to their specialization by observing ‘Celebrate Retina Celebrate Life 2015’ as an event of real time learning and exchange of the latest developments in the field. The titans being honoured participated in the Scientific Programs of the Conference held at the Sahara Star Mumbai and Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital in Mumbai between the 15th – 17th of May 2015 and shared their valuable thoughts on the subject and in general with the gathering.
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy conducted a session on Effective Communication skills for Healthcare Managers
Dr. MV.Ashok Babu at the Session
The Sankara Nethralaya Academy, an education arm of Sankara Nethralaya, Medical Research Foundation conducted a niche, session on “Effective Communication Skills for Healthcare Managers on Monday, 18 May 2015.
The session started with a warm welcome note and the need for supervisory skills in professional managers by Shri A. Mahalingam, Deputy Registrar of the institution, he thanked the participants for the overwhelming response and confidence in the institution and wished them a wonderful and successful session.
The lively session was conducted by Dr. M.V.Ashok Babu, a qualified trainer with easy to understand examples and video clippings.
The session covered the important aspect of non-verbal communication and the messages that are conveyed through gestures and body language. It emphasized the importance of feedback to make sure the message conveyed by the sender of message is properly understood by the receiver. The various types of feedback phrases were discussed.
The rules and principles of effective communication were dealt in detail. The importance of using assertive language for communication within the organization and the necessity to understand the psychology of the receiver was emphasized. The difference between reaction and response to a situation was clearly put forth.
A sub topic on the basic psychology and expectations of patients from a doctor was explained, with special focus on dealing with subjective healthcare cues. The changing realities of the mental state of the patients of today and in the future, when compared to the past, made the participants ponder on the techniques to be adopted to make impactful communication to patients.
Finally the session was concluded with tips on how to use communication for providing good patient service and experience.
At the end of the session, Shri A Mahalingam also used the opportunity to make a quick announcement about the forthcoming 12 weekends Certificate Course in Healthcare Quality Management – 2nd batch to be conducted in collaboration with Association of healthcare Providers India (AHPI), New Delhi and ACME Consulting (Healthcare Quality Consultancy) Chennai and to be commencing from 18th July 2015 and requested to visit www.thesnacademy.ac.in to know more and online application.