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.
