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The Sankara Ratna Award 2004 was conferred on Shri A. M. Naik, Chairman and Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro. His Excellency Shri Surjit Singh Barnala, Governor of Tamilnadu handed over the award to Shri A. M. Naik at a function held on Saturday, February 19, 2005 at KRS Auditorium, Meenakshi College For Women, Kodambakkam, Chennai.
Dr. Lingam Gopal has won the L. C. Dutta Award for best paper of original work done in India and published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. Congratulations!
Dr. S. Bhaskaran, Dr. Rajiv Raman, Dr. Tarun Sharma and Mr. D. Senthil participated in the meeting organized by Eli Lilly Company at Vienna, Austria on January 27 & 28, 2005.
The Eli Lilly project is about using Protein Kinase C inhibitor (PKC-inhibitor), and oral drug: Ruboxystaurin Mesylate, 32 mg/day for 3 years and evaluating its role in minimizing the progression of non-clinical significant macular edema. Photographer, Mr. M. S. Krishna has been certified by the Wisconsin Photographic Reading Center for this project. European Optometrist Society has certified Mr. D Senthil. The project will start in India on March 10 and enrollment will be completed by October 2005, a follow-up by 2008 and results will be ready by 2009.
Dr Eziani, Registrar of Medical Council of Nigeria visited SN & JCOC on February 1, 2005. He wrote: "Grateful for the hospitality. Enthralled at the great advancement in ophthalmology and the services being rendered. Hopeful of opportunities for collaboration with Nigeria."
Mr. A.D. Deshpande, Chairman of LIONS NAB Eye Hospital, Miraj visited Sankara Nethralaya Orbis Pediatric Ophthalmology Department on February 3, 2005.
Mr. Sudipto Saha visited our hospital on 9th and 10th of this month to evaluate the SRT fellowship program. He appreciated the overall functioning of the organization.
Sri Somnath Chatterjee, Lok Sabha Speaker came for a consultation on February 11, 2005.
Md. Nursolaman, from Chittagong Eye Infirmary and Training Complex, Pahartali, Chittagong, Bangladesh was here for training under the Orbis Fellowship Program.
In his words:
"It is a great experience for me that I could process some specimens that we don’t get in our hospital in Bangladesh. For example; CSF, FNAC, Bone Marrow, Bronchial wash etc. Whatever I learnt in the Department of Microbiology at Sankara Nethralaya will be very useful for me and I shall implement it in my hospital and patients will be benefited!"
He was deputed for training under a training program sponsored by Orbis. Mr. Nursolaman underwent training at our L&T Microbiology Lab from October 2004 – January, 2005.
A new operation theater to serve thousands of patients in South Chennai was inaugurated at Navasuja Sankara Nethralaya. Over 250 people attended the inauguration and Dr M.A.M.Ramaswamy, Pro Chancellor, Annamalai University was the Chief Guest. Dr.S.S.Badrinath, Chairman, Dr K.Ravishankar, CEO and Dr.T. S. Surendran were present.
Dr. Ashok Rangarajan briefed those present about the facilities at Navasuja Sankara Nethralaya. He said, "In addition of the operation theater, the center has become a one-stop solution for all cataract patients. All services for cataract surgeries including laboratory services and physician check up are offered under one roof so that patients can be admitted, go through surgery and be discharged on the same day."
International Telemedicine Conference
In continuation of our efforts to create awareness and provide visibility among various professionals including the healthcare providers and equipment suppliers about the benefit of adopting this emerging technology, Sankara Nethralaya is going to participate in the forth coming International Telemedicine Conference from March 17-19, 2005.
ARVO's US-Indo Workshop
The idea to bring researchers from the US and India together began in 2002 when individuals at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, or, ARVO gathered to discuss the research opportunities between the US and India. The goal of these programs, funded by a grant awarded in 2004 by the National Eye Institute, is the development of a research plan for collaborative projects incorporating methods for identifying fiscal, scientific (e.g. tissue, processes, population), and intellectual resources in the US and India that promote collaboration and identifying research areas where there is a need. This workshop will be held at Sankara Nethralaya on February 15, 2005. These meetings will also be conducted at L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad and at Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai.
Dr. Lingam Gopal, Dr. H.N. Madhavan, Dr. J. Biswas, Dr. G. Kumaramanickavel and Dr. S. Krishnakumar will participate. Dr. L. Vijaya shall also be attending the workshop in Hyderabad.
On January 21, Mr. P. Waney & Ms. Rebecca of Mission for Vision Trust, United Kingdom and Dr. F. Barry Brown & Ms. Yvonne Brown from University of Saskatchewan, Canada visited us.
Also on the 21st, Mr. K. Gopal, senior congressman & former MP on talked about India - before & after Independence at Sankara Nethralaya's Elite School of Optometry. It was one of the most highly interactive sessions in the recent past.
Dr. Supriyo Ghose, Professor of Ophthalmology & Chief of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences - All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) visited Sankara Nethralaya's pediatric ophthalmology department as an in-country Guest faculty on January 28 and 29th.
Eli-Lily and Company’s Ruboxistaurin Mesylate may reduce moderate visual loss in people with moderate to severe diabetic retinopathy. They have selected Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Vitreoretinal Services of Sankara Nethralaya as one of the four centers in India to evaluate Ruboxistaurin Mesylate role in reducing the occurrence of center-threatening diabetic macular edema. The Sankara Nethralaya team includes Principal Investigator: Dr. Tarun Sharma, Ophthalmologist Incharge: Dr. Rajiv Raman, Physician Incharge: Dr. S Bhaskaran, Photographer: Mr. M.S. Krishna and Optometrist & Coordinator: Mr. D. Senthil Kumar.
Mr. D. Srinivaasa Murthy from Chennai is a retired employee of The State Bank of India. He is a pensioner and could lead a relaxed retired life like any other pensioner. However, he has decided to be different from the rest. He has donated a sum of Rs. 5,000/- to perform 2 one-time minor surgeries for deserving poor patients. He has designated a large part of his pension as a donation to Sankara Nethralaya for performing free operations. As an inspired well-wisher, he has also planned to donate further to this cause.
Thank you Mr. Murthy!
The tele-ophthalmology wing of Sankara Nethralaya has crossed the milestone of 5000 Tele-consultations to rural villages around Chennai district. About a year back, for the first time in India, Sankara Nethralaya rolled out the Tele-Ophthalmology bus with the expert help from ISRO.
With 80% of the healthcare facilities in an urban setting, but with 80% of the public living in a rural setting we were rightfully challenged. Having optical instruments in a mobile bus was also a delicate task. But we rose to the occasion and made the most of providing urban care to the rural poor. With your support, we hope to expand this program in the near future.
Mr. A.S.Krishnamurthy, Retired Deputy Controller and Auditor General of India, was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations at Sankara Nethralaya. Ten-year service awards to the employees and merit scholarships for employees’ children were distributed on the occasion.
Sankara Nethralaya has always kept its focus on continually improving the delivery of services to our patients. As a part of such ongoing efforts, we have taken up another major initiative to improve our internal communication - INTRANET!
The institution's intranet was formally inaugurated on January 26, 2005 enabling the flow of internal information in a more efficient manner. To make it effective, we made sure our employees were trained on the new system.
