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Ophthalmic Meet Marks 20th Anniversary

The 20th anniversary of Vision Research Foundation was celebrated with a three-day “Exclusive Meet on Ophthalmic Research” at Fisherman’s Cove, Chennai from August 20 to 22nd, 2004. Nearly 240 delegates participated with scientific contributions from 15 international faculty and 19 national faculty members.

The meeting was enthusiastically attended by genetists, biochemists, molecular biologists, pathologists and clinicians involved in ophthalmic research besides a large contingent of clinicians from Sankara Nethralaya and various other institutions from India and abroad. The impetus for Stem Cell research received a further boost with a message from the President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and also a message from the Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research, Dr. N. K. Ganguly.

MoUs

Sankara Nethralaya's Medical Research Foundation (MRF) has signed an MoU with the Government of Tamil Nadu to treat all those covered under the Employee State Insurance (ESI) scheme. This is expected to benefit a large number of employees in the industrial and commercial establishments covered by ESI.

Medical Research Foundation (MRF) has entered into an agreement with Lister Metropolis Laboratory and Research Center to include vision check up in their health screening programme and detailed eye examination for diabetic patients.

Speakers, Teachers

Dr. Madhavan Swaminathan, Ph.D, Professor and Deputy Director, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA gave a talk on "Emerging Field of Nanotechnology – Application in Medical Science" on August 17, 2004.

Pujya Shri Ramesh Bhaiji Oza, a renowned and well respected Bhagavat Gita exponent visited Sankara Nethralaya on August 23, 2004 and gave an inspiring speech to the well-wishers and Employees of Nethralaya.

Award News

>Dr. L. Gopal, Medical Director of Sankara Nethralaya was invited by the Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic Association to deliver the prestigious Dr. Joseph Gnanadickam Oration and was awarded a gold medal at the TNOA 2004 Conference in Tirunelveli. A large contingent of consultants from Sankara Nethralaya actively participated in the various lecture sessions at the Conference.

>The prestigious Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Award for the year 2004 for advancing the interest of India in the fields of Medical Bio-Technology will be bestowed upon Dr. S. S. Badrinath, Chairman and President of Medical Research Foundation.

>Dr. S. S. Badrinath, Chairman and President of Medical Research Foundation was chosen to be the recipient for the Humanitarian Service Award by the Indian community in Los Angeles, USA on the occasion of the 58th Independence Day of India.

Independence Day

India's Independence Day was celebrated with great enthusiasm and cheer at Sankara Nethralaya on the morning of August 15, 2004. Padmashri Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti, a well-known name in Silk, Art & Culture and Philanthropy and a well-wisher of Sankara Nethralaya, presided over the function.

Fifteen of Nethralaya employees were honored on completion of 10 years of service. Outstanding performers in each of the departments received awards. The peak moment of the day and the biggest cheer was for the Medical Research Foundation Woman of the Year Award and Medical Research Foundation Man of the Year Award for 2003-04. Ms. C. Nirupa Rani Devi in the Department of Patient Services and Mr. N. Srinivasalu of House Keeping Department were the proud winners.

The hospital management announced that Ms. Devi and Mr. Srinivasulu will be sent to Singapore in recognition of their outstanding performance. The Dipankar Chatterjee Cricket Trophy and other awards were also distributed. The Orbis Paediatric Ophthalmology department gave protective eye glasses to all the children who had come to attend the Independence Day function.

An Intern's View

Several weeks ago Sriram Ramgopal, a high-school student from the United States, approached us about doing a brief internship at Sankara Nethralaya. Here are his observations:

7/7/04
I spent the morning with Dr. Meenakshi, who is a pediatric ophthalmologist. She let me observe her working with patients. I was very impressed with her sound knowledge of ophthalmology and her ability, her willingness to address patient’s concerns, and for her ability to work with different kinds of patients. Patients come to Sankara Nethralya from all over the nation and they speak a variety of languages. In just a few hours, the doctor was talking in English, then in Tamil then in Hindi. In addition, she has the ability to make children cooperate and to discuss things with parents patiently,

7/8/04
I went on the camp that was held today at the Kilpauk Medical College. The purpose of the camp was to screen patients who had been diagnosed with diabetes in the government hospital that week, for eye problems as a result of their illness.

On the whole, I greatly enjoyed working here. The doctor spent some time with me showing me what they were looking for in making their diagnoses. Mr. Arkiaswamy was very inspiring; his patience and friendliness knew no bounds and he was incredibly patient with all of those whom he worked with. I was nonetheless moved by the diligence of the staff and their desire to cause positive change. I was also very impressed with the courage shown by the doctor; despite a lack of support—one optometrist and one other doctor were not present for the camp, she worked overtime to ensure that all 157 of the patients were treated.

Working with the poor can be difficult because, for example, illiterate patients are unable to interpret the characters on the eye chart and they must therefore be taught in regard to how to make sense of it. In addition, because they have spent so long waiting to be treated, they are apt to doze off after some time due to the strenuous conditions and the heat. Despite these difficulties, the staff worked with their patients with forbearance.

7/11/04
Today I witnessed a Cataract surgery performed by Dr. Ravishankar. It was fascinating to watch the doctor cut open the eye and perform the work. The operations were done flawlessly and almost mechanically, proving the experience of the doctors.

7/12/04
I observed the JCOC department today, in which cataract surgeries are done for the poor patients free of charge. Patients are brought to the hospital via the van and they stay in the hospital for 2-3 days. Dr. Panday showed me the various aspects of testing done on the patients, such as the slit-lamp test and the taking of the inter-ocular pressure. I also saw two cataract surgeries undertaken by Dr. Smitha. Overall I was very impressed with the treatment of patients and the work done there.

7/13/04
Today I went to R.K Nagar with social workers from the Glaucoma Project to distribute eyeglasses to the people of this rural area. Many people were getting eyeglasses free of charge. The village was a very new experience for me. The poverty here was easily seen, and the lifestyle led by these people was very unique. It was a work of blaring radios, simple wooden shacks, and narrow streets. The simplicity of their lives was an eye-opening experience for me.

The workers from Sankara Nethralaya were regarded as heroes—many people stopped to talk to us and nearly everybody offered us lunch or coffee. These conversations held up the work considerably; nonetheless, the workers patiently talked to and inquired about everybody they knew.

7/16/04
Today I returned to the Diabetic Retionpathy project at Kilpauk Medical College. Like my previous week, this was a great joy to be a part of. Like last week, I helped in recording down the numbers from the patient’s eye-pressure readings. These numbers would be used in helping the doctors diagnose for diabetic retinopathy. We worked with about 150 patients. Because we had a full staff of optometrists and doctors, the work went very smooth and enjoyable.

7/20/04
I went to Arani Nagar with several doctors who were doing post-operation examinations for cataract patients. The work there was brief—the doctors merely had to ensure that the operation was not giving the patients problems. Like the other villages I have seen up to this point, Arani Nagar was a simple place. The villagers here would not be able to afford cataract surgeries without the help of Sankara Nethralaya. While it was a brief visit, it was nonetheless valuable for me to see the completeness of care provided to the poor patients of the hospital.

7/23/04
Today I returned to Kilpauk Medical Hospital to help with the diabetic retinopathy camp. It was the same enjoyable experience that I had last week. This time I also helped in administering Paracain eye drops to the patients before the IOP was recorded.

7/24/04
Today I went with in the Sankara Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy team to a village in the suburbs of Chennai. The purpose of this camp was to screen people for diabetes. The work took place in a very simple village schoolhouse. About 100 people came to the schoolhouse to get screened by the SNDRP team for diabetes, and more patients would come on the following day for the second day of the camp. The team would then return on the following month to look for diabetic retinopathy in diabetic patients.

This was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had during my days at Saankara Nethralaya. I greatly enjoyed helping these patients and working ‘on-location.’ I helped primarily in setting up and filling out appointment cards for diabetic patients. While the work was simple, merely observing and taking part in this work was very satisfying.

Recent Visits to SN

Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Hon’ble Mr. Ramchandra Kapse along with the Chief Secretary, Mr. Bhatt, IAS visited Sankara Nethralaya to see the Tele-ophthalmology project on Monday, 12th July 2004. Sankara Nethralaya will set up a Telemedicine Project in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Dr. Deepak Edward, Associate Professor & Vice Chairman of University of Illinois, USA visited Sankara Nethralaya and gave a lecture on “Nerve Wracking Discs – Is it Glaucoma or not?”

Dr. William Good, Pediatric Ophthalmologist from California Medical Center, San Francisco, USA paid a visit to Sankara Nethralaya and gave a lecture on “Retinopathy of Prematurity & Cortical Visual Impairment.”

Laurels

Dr. L. Vijaya, Director, (Smt Jadhavbhai Nathmal Singhvi Glaucoma Services Department) of Sankara Nethralaya attended the 1st SNEC – AIGS Angle Closure Glaucoma Conference held at Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore on Sunday, 1st August 2004. She was the only Indian to have been invited to the conference and she presented a paper on “Screening Experience in India”. Dr. L. Vijaya is also the Principal Investigator for Chennai Willingdon Glaucoma Research Project at Sankara Nethralaya.

Sankara Nethralaya’s Associate Consultant, Dr. R. R. Sudhir has been chosen for a Master’s Programme in Publich Health Ophthalmology – Clinical Epidemiology at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA. The course runs from July 2004 to June 2005. After Dr. Sudhir’s return, we intend to set up a clinical epidemiology centre at Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai.

Mr. R. Krishnakumar who was heading our Optometry Division is now the Principal of Elite School of Optometry. He is a B.S. (Optometry), M.Phil and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. program.

In March 2004, Dr. L. Srinivasa Varadarajan, Ph.D from University of Missouri, USA has joined The Elite School of Optometry as a Lecturer and Research Scholar. His research on human pattern vision and his initiatives to develop optometric research using psychophysical techniques have now commenced.

Tele-ophthalmology Has A New Name

Over 70% of India’s population live in rural areas and over 70% of doctors live in urban India. The people living in the villages and other backward areas suffer from inadequate medical and due to lack of qualified doctors and hospitals.

Understanding this need of the people, Sankara Nethralaya, launched its “Teleophthalmology” project to take eye care to the doorsteps of those deprived of these facilities. This consists of a mobile bus and has a satellite link to the base hospital in Chennai, provided by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The bus has all the equipment required for the examination of patients. Through the satellite link, patients receive expert advice from the ophthalmologists at the base hospital in Chennai.

This project, inaugurated by the Honourable President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, in October 2003 has been running successfully with the help of ISRO. Since 23rd October 2003, Sankara Nethralaya, through the teleophthalmology, has conducted 136 camps and examined 7000 patients. The total number of tele-consultations from the mobile bus to the base hospital has been around 2000. The teleophthalmology project has also helped in increasing the awareness about eye care and eye diseases amongst the population and has conducted continuing medical education programs for the medical and paramedical practitioners in the towns.

At a function in Kanchipuram on August 2, 2004, to commemorate the 70th birthday of Jagadguru Kanchi Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai has named its Mobile Rural Teleophthalmology Project as “Jagadguru Kanchi Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal Teleophthalmology Project."