omlog: a blog by Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India!

Childrens' day celebrations at Sankara Nethralaya

    

Sankara Nethralaya and ORBIS pediatric learning and training centre celebrated Childrens' day in a very grand manner. Free clinical examination was conducted to all children below 16years.

Dr T S Surendran, Vice Chairman of Sankara Nethralaya and Director of Pediatric Ophthalmology Department along with his associates addressed the importance of vision care in children. More than 100 children were screened. Toys and sweets were distributed. A drawing competition was conducted and prizes were given to the winners

Concert by Prof T N Krishnan at San Diego

Prof. T N Krishnan's Benefit Concert for Sankara Nethralaya was held at San Diego . It left all audiences awestruck

It was a  grand success. There were about 200 people who attended and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. It is the greatest pleasure to hear Prof TN Krishnan and Sriram Krishnan play together.       

- Mr Vachaspathi,
  Local Co-ordinator,   Prof T.N. Krishnan's Benefit concert,
  San Diego, USA.

         

          

For the Sake of Honour Award

Sankara Nethralaya's Vice - Chairman Dr. T .S. Surendran was conferred the " For the Sake of Honour " award by the Rotary Club of Madras South West on 24th February 2007.The Vice - President of the All India Ophthalmological Society, Dr. Babu Rajendran, said Dr.Surendran was one of "the fastest squint surgeons in the world." Dr. Surendran explained his current project with Orbis, an international development organization working towards eliminating avoidable blindness in the developing world.He planned to screen around 60,000 children in the next three years. " Early diagnosis can help prevent serious damage and blindness among children.

The number of cases of paediatric cataracts, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and cancer affecting the retina could also be brought down," he noted. School teachers would be trained in using basic screening equipment (portable),so that problems could be identified early.Dr. Surendran, known for his expertise in paediatric ophthalmology, has presented several papers at the national and international fora. The Rotary's district governor nominee N. Subramanian, and ophthalmologist Dr. Mohan Rajan, President of the club, Venkat Natarajan, secretary, Kailash Chordia and vocational service director R. C. Sekhar participated. 

http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/25/stories/2007022518890300.htm

SN - Alcon Partnership

Dr. K.Lily Therese aka "Dr. Lily" is a Reader in Microbiology at Sankara Nethralaya and a Colleague of Dr. H.N Madhavan, Director Research, Vision Research Foundation. She was offered a six month fellowship by Alcon in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.

The R&D Microbiology Department headed by Dr. Barry A.Schlech, VP, Pharmaceutical Microbiology hosted Dr. Lily from Feb through Aug 2006. This 6-month scientific fellowship program was devised by Dr. Gerald Cagle and Dr.H.N Madhavan. During this time, Dr Lily experienced the state-of-the-art, diagnostic, DNA-based methods used in Alcon Labs opthalmic anti-infective studies. Dr. Lily identified infectious agents Indian Endophthalmitis patients and detected organisms in specimens that were "culture negative ",i.e, no microbe was detectable by growth.

Her training at Alcon reinforced her interest in using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography(Dhplc) and DNA sequencing of bacterial and fungal genomes. With these techniques, microbiologists can detect microbes in cases of endophthalmitis and identify these organisms to the species and strain-level even though the microbial culprits do not grow on traditional microbiological groups. She worked with Dr. Stroman's Anti-Infective Research Department. Dr.Lily also attended technical seminars and management meeting in R&D that gave her an insight into our projects and activities and interaction with other Alcon divisions. She also gave several seminars on her work in india with Dr. Madhavan.

A Shining Example

Preetam Sridhar is no ordinary 12year old. While children of his age are thinking about books, music, sports and entertainment, Preetam is thinking about how to help his less fortunate brethren.

Living in California, USA, Preetam is a 7th grade student studying at the Sinalola Middle School, Novato, California. Preetam has collected donation from his fellow-students, added his own contribution and send $100 to Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India to support 2 cataract surgeries, for rural indigent patients.

Preetam has not just contributed for 2 cataract surgeries. This gesture has contributed towards restoring the livelihood of 2 families. Such charity at such a young age is highly commendable. Sankara Nethralaya family extends its warm appreciation to Preetam and his fellow-students who have contributed for a great cause!

Giving hope amidst sorrow

The eye donation call received by Sankara Nethralaya on September 02 was unique – the donor was a 45 day old infant.  Salom Bennyhin, lost his battle for life when he was just 45 days old.  Inspite of the grief, his parents Mr. N.S. Sasikumar and Mrs. Hani Sasikumar, wanted his eyes to be donated so that two people could regain their vision.  They called Sankara Nethralaya and the infant’s eyes were donated.

Sankara Nethralaya salutes this couple, who, inspite of their grief have given hope to two families. 

www.dinamani.com

Staying True to Sankara Nethralaya’s Philosophy

Sankara Nethralaya philosophy states: “Let the word Sankara Nathralaya ever remind me and my associates His Holiness’ command that there be missionary spirit in the project.  Let the world Nethralaya constantly remind me and my colleagues that the place of our work is an alaya.  Work will be our worship which we shall do with sincerity, dedication and utmost love”.

Our Teleophthalmology team recently visited Veedhividangan Village and Karuvilli Village on October 17 & 18 and carried out the camp.  The camp was organized by Vatsalyam -a Service organization.  The team examined 250 numbers of patients.  Sri P. Raman and S. Balachandran sent these following comments on the teleophthalmology team’s performance.

“They have simply conquered the hearts of people not only with their professional skills, but also by their exemplary patience, dedication and commitment.  No organization can achieve its objectives, however noble, unless its personnel wholeheartedly share its ethos.  From the perpetual smile on their faces and unobtrusive style of functioning, it was evident that your team has fully imbibed the organization’s culture.  Clearly it is again a success of your founder and the noble ideas he stands for.”

The "oldest" patient of Sankara Nethralaya

On the occasion of World Sight Day, Sankara Nethralya conducted eye screening camp along with Lions Club Central Madras at Vishranthi old age home, Chennai.  The Sankara Nethralaya team was lead by DR Nivedhitha Narayanan.  A total of 105 patients were screened.  Out of this 25 old ladies were bed ridden.  21 patients were diagnosed to have cataract and 41 were prescribed glasses. All of them were above 70 years of age.

Mrs. Saraswathi, an old lady who was examined said, she was 106 years.  She is the oldest person to be examined by Sankara Nethralaya in the last 28 years.  She had cataract in both the eyes.  She, along with the other patients will be brought by Lions Club of Central Madras in batches for surgery and further management.

Seeing the world clearly, at 95

Mrs. Nagammal, aged 95, walked into Sankara Nethralaya’s community ophthalmology centre on September 15 for an eye examination.  She was diagnosed with cataract in both eyes.  After a through examination including ultrasonography was done, she underwent physical examination, was declared fit for surgery and underwent cataract surgery with lens implantation in the left eye on October 6.  She is doing extremely well and has been advised to come on November 20 for examination and evaluation.  Mrs. Nagammal regaled the staff of the hospital about stories of India’s freedom struggle.

Sankara Nethralaya thanks friends, donors and well-wishers who have supported our community services and have helped us help people like Mrs. Nagammal.

Recognizing 20 years of service

Dr. R. Chidambaram from BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) visited Sankara Nethralaya on 14th October 2006.  He handed over 20 year’s service completion award to Dr. Prema Padmanabhan, Director, Cornea Services on recognition of her service.

Dr Prema Padmanabhan completed her medical graduate degree from Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, in 1978; MS (Ophthalmology) in 1981. She underwent fellowship training in Vitreoretinal surgery between August 1981 and July 1982 in Medical Research Foundation, a unit of Sankara Nethralaya, where she is currently a senior cornea consultant. She has published 75 papers in peer reviewed national and international journals and has also written 3 chapters in various ophthalmic books. She has delivered more than 55 lectures at various national and international conferences as an invited guest speaker. She is the recipient of the Rustom Ranji Award in 1998. Having headed the Cornea Services for the past decade, she has recently handed over charge to Dr. G Sitalakshmi and is currently the Head of the Cataract and IOL Services and Director , Refractive Surgery.