Sankara Nethralaya
Sankara Nethralaya hosts the 5th Annual Retina Summit 2023
The 5th Annual Retina Summit 2023 was held on 30th June and 1st July at the Taj Coromandel. The theme focused on “Macular Surgery.” This year’s Retina Summit was special as it was conducted after a hiatus of three years.
The eyes are a window to the universe, and the power to see this universe is concentrated in a small specialized central area of the retina called as the Macula. Several maladies that affect this macula can instantly rob the vision resulting in central blindness. Thus, it is extremely important to restore and repair the macular area.
Macular surgery is among the most intricate, delicate and skillful surgery. It requires training, hard work and concentration to perform these surgeries. Surgery for a macular hole is the most commonly performed surgery among the various macular surgeries. With the advances in techniques, the success rate of this surgery has improved to nearly 98%. A patient who has lost central vision due to a macular hole can have a very good chance of recovering full vision with this surgery. Other macular surgeries are removal of epiretinal membrane, surgery for macular schisis associated with high myopia, etc.
The Retina Summit was inaugurated on Friday, 30th June 2023 at the Hotel Taj Coromandel. Chief guests for the function, Shri N Ram, Head of The Hindu Group and Shri N Kumar, Vice Chairman of the Sanmar Group lit the lamp and commented on several sociological insights in connection with healthcare sector and gave their unique perspectives. This was followed by a musical performance by ‘Madhan’s Band” led by Sri Madhan Prakash, and a Gala dinner.
The Retina Summit 2023 brought together the niche circle of vitreoretinal specialists who shared their experiences and insights to enrich the knowledge of the participants. The sessions were an interactive blend of keynote talks, panel discussions, case presentations and videos. Many well-known and preeminent national and international experts, along with Sankara Nethralaya’s in-house faculty contributed to make it a collaborative and enjoyable experience.
Sankara Nethralaya has always been at the forefront of innovation, constantly questioning the conventional and pushing boundaries to develop newer insights. This 5th Retina Summit conference is the only unique conference being held in a highly specialized niche field of macular surgery. It stands testament to Sankara Nethralaya’s endeavor to bring together renowned experts both national and international who will pave the way for innovations, and collaborations. This is also a great opportunity for the young generation of Retinal surgeons in the country to learn special tips and tricks from the experts in the field.
The Retina Summit brought together 250 delegates from all corners of India and international delegates from Kenya, Singapore, etc.
Press Coverage:
Fifth retina summit inaugurated – Times of India
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/fifth-retina-summit-inaugurated/articleshow/101407811.cms
Doctors and journalists must work to dispel medical misinformation, says N. Ram – The Hindu
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/doctors-and-journalists-must-work-to-dispel-medical-misinformation/article67028137.ece
Tamil Press coverage of Retina Summit held on 30th June and 1st July 2023.at Taj Coromandel
http://omlog.org/header/retina-summit-2023-media-news.pdf
Specialty Contact Lens Workshop by Sankara Nethralaya & CooperVision Eye Care
“The Department of Contact Lens, Sankara Nethralaya, Medical Research Foundation in collaboration with Silver Line Laboratories (Blanchard lenses, CooperVision Specialty EyeCare conducted a Two-day workshop on Specialty Contact Lenses to for all the practitioners covering the fitting aspects of the specialty lenses and case-based approaches in various clinical settings on November 26th & 27th, 2022 (Saturday & Sunday). The main objective of this workshop was to train and reach private contact lens practitioners, ophthalmologists, postgraduates, and fellows on the concepts of Orthokeratology and Scleral Contact Lens fitting. This workshop has indeed met its purpose, and we have got around 35 registrants across the states with distinguished years of experience who had actively taken part on both days.
Dr. Sumitha Agarkar, Deputy Director, Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology welcomed the audience and briefed on the importance of Myopia management aspects in India. Following this, Ms. G. Aparna, Doctoral Researcher from the Myopia Clinic addressed the “Myopia control options practiced at our hospital “on the first day.
On the second day, Ms. S. Madhumathi, In-charge Contact Lens Clinic delivered a talk on the “Overall Scleral Lens fitting approaches” before the guest talk.
“For the first time in India, We had the honor of launching Coopervision Eyecare’s FDA-approved Myopia control lens – Paragon CRT – Ortho K lenses and Onefit MED Scleral lenses” at Sankara Nethralaya during the Workshop.”
We had International and National Speakers, Mr. Moodi Kupperman, Global Professional Services, CooperVision Eyecare, and Mr. Gagan Sahni, Technical Director of Silverline Laboratories who had briefed on the fitting aspects of FDA-approved orthokeratology lenses – Paragon CRT lenses and OneFIT Med Scleral lenses.
We had brainstorming and interactive discussions with the guest Speakers on the fitting aspects of these specialty lenses in different case scenarios.
We had a “LIVE fitting demonstration of the Specialty Contact Lenses “on two of our patients who gave their consent to participate in the workshop.
Also, Silver line Laboratories have come upon and agreed to waive the lens cost for those 2 deserving patients who participated in the LIVE demo fitting.
As a part of their support, they have contributed the “Onefit MED Scleral lens trial set to our Contact Lens Clinic “for encouraging many more lens fits.
All the participants received the participation certificates at the end of the workshop. Overall, the program was successful and garnered lots of positive remarks such as a “well-organized event and gain of good knowledge about the specialty lenses and suggestions to conduct more such Workshops in the future.”
The entire contact lens team, led by Ms. Madhumathi, including Ms. Karpaagavalli, Ms. Manju, Ms. Akshaya Balakrishnan, Mr. Ronit Dutta, Ms. Varsha Harinya, Ms. Flora Fathima Mary, and Ms. Glady, helped us from the flyer preparation to the patient’s coordination, and their efforts and active participation were instrumental in the workshop’s success. We thank Mr. Abdul Majid, Ms. Juliet, and Ms. Malliga for lending a hand during the workshop and taking care of the clinic.
Sankara Nethralaya Celebrates Republic Day 2022
Sankara Nethralaya family once again celebrated India’s Republic Day 2022 with all the standard operating protocols in place. With only essential staff and the Chief Guest, physically present, many more viewed the ceremony online from the safety of their homes. The Flag hoisting ceremony started at 8:00 a.m. and Dr. G. Suganeswari offered a warm welcome to the chief guest, Dr. Prof. R. Surendran, Director of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Centre for Surgery and Transplantation at MIOT International Hospitals, Chennai.
Joining our esteemed Chief Guest on the dais were Dr. Girish S. Rao, President, and Dr. T. S. Surendran, Vice Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya. Mr Chellasamy I K, Chief Security Officer escorted Dr. R. Surendran to unfurl the flag, while Mr. Ravi, DPS, led everyone in singing the national anthem. While Mr. I. K. Chellasamy introduced our chief guest to the assembled security guards, Mr. Ravi sang a moving patriotic song especially themed for Indian Republic day.
Mr. Mani Baskaran, Deputy Director of Glaucoma Services, gave a brief introduction of the history of the Constitution of India, and the significance of India’s Republic day and invited Dr. T. S. Surendran to introduce the chief guest, Dr. R, Surendran. Dr. T. S. Surendran reminisced that about meeting Dr. R. Surendran in 1964 in school and maintaining a close friendship since. Dr. T. S. Surendran showered his appreciation and praise on Dr. R. Surendran. Our chief guest completed his MBBS, MS, and MCH in Stanley Hospital, and specialises in liver diseases. He established successful liver transplants, the only of its kind in the government sector throughout India
He performed many Whipple procedures (pancreaticoduodenectomy — major operation to remove the head of the pancreas.) His most famous achievement was to start a gastroenterology block in a government hospital overcoming the bureaucracy and offering low cost treat for liver diseases in the government hospital. Dr. R. Surendran is an admirer of Dr. S. S. Badrinath and emulates Dr. SSB in his philanthropic deeds.
Many employees from our institution were treated by him. He successfully initiated multi-tasking among his subordinates while working at Stanley Medical College, making his innovations unique in the government sector. Many IAS officers are his patients, such as Sri V. Irai Anbu, Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu Government, who dedicated one of his books to Dr. R. Surendran. Dr. T. S. Surendran concluded saying that Dr. R. Surendran was a great man and time wasn’t enough to list his outstanding qualities.
Dr. Girish S. Rao, President, honoured the Chief Guest with a ‘ponnadai’ (silk shawl). Dr. R. Surendran took the stage and acknowledged Dr. S. S. Badrinath as his ‘Asaan’ or teacher. He told the enthralled audience a little known factoid about the constitution – the Indian Constitution consists of 328 pages and the largest constitution in the world. He spoke of the inequalities existing in our country – the rich get better medical treatment than the have-nots in spite of our Constitution speaking of the right to equality and freedom.
He recounted a small incident demonstrating Dr. S. S. Badrinath’s humanitarianism – a patient from the North East region of India who came to Sankara Nethralaya for treatment suffered a stroke on the day of his discharge, and became semi-comatose. Dr. T. S. Surendran coordinated with Dr. R. Surendran who was in Stanley Hospital for the patient’s admission to the Neuro- ICU. But Dr. Badrinath took a personal interest and sent the patient to Apollo Hospital, spending a princely sum on the patient’s recovery, stating that it was Sankara Nethralaya’s responsibility to send the patient back in good health. Dr. R. Surendran said Sankara Nethralaya staff is very fortunate to work in a humanitarian atmosphere led by Dr. Badrinath’s spirit of selflessness. He called for young doctors and other youngsters to make the world a better place, and reminded the younger generation to remember their early enthusiasm to help the poor and not change to materialism when they got older.
Dr. R. Surendran advised the young doctors that success is not important but significance is important. He elaborated that while skill and knowledge made good doctors, empathy was important to become a great doctor. He urged the young doctors to choose a significant life of character. He ended his speech by blessing Sankara Nethralaya to grow in the same spirit of missionary vision.
Dr. G. Suganeswari thanked Dr. R. Surendran for his inspirational speech and announced the presentation of service awards. She called on Mrs. Sudha Mohan to announce the Dhingra Trust Awards for the children of employees who had excelled in their studies. On the occasion of India’s 50th Independence day, the institution had taken a vow to grant merit awards to employees’ children who scored 80% and above in their academics. The Dhingra Family Trust was established in 2004 by Sri Ram Dhingra who belongs to California, USA, for the children of employees who scored above 70%, and going on for college education. A total of 21 children – 18 from Chennai and 3 from Kolkota were the joyful recipients of the Dhingra Trust awards.
After the awards were distributed, one of the awardees, Ms. Janani, daughter of Ms. Revathy, Department of Patient Services, shared her thoughts and thanked the institution on behalf of all the awardees.
Mrs. Shalini Srikumar, who started her career at Sankara Nethralaya as a consultant secretary in 1997, was encouraged to become a clinical research coordinator. Her daughter too was the recipient of the Dhingra Trust Awards. She thanked the institution for encouraging the students in their future careers and enabling the employees to have good careers.
Dr. Suganeswari concluded the Republic Day celebrations by thanking the Chief Guest, Dr. R. Surendran, Dr. Girish S. Rao, President, and Dr. T. S. Surendran for attending the event. She also thanked the security guards, housekeeping, and all the other staff who attended the event. She ended by quoting Dr. Abdul Kalam, “A dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep.”
The 13th Dr E.Vaithilingam Memorial Scientific session
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UPDATE ON UVEITIS
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World Diabetes Day November 14
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