Bheeshma Award
Dr. P. Namperumalsamy has been awarded Bheeshma Award on April 25, in the field of medicine by The Ashram, Chennai at their 15th Annual Day Function at Kamaraj Memorial Hall, Chennai.

Respect the Award and continue the Good work :
Dr. P.N.’s call to all the staff
Dr. P. Namperumalsamy, chairman, dedicated the Padma Shree Award conferred on him by the Government of India to all those who are working for Aravind Eye Care system and also to his parents who were instrumental for him to attain his present position.
      Dr. P.N. was making his thanks giving speech at a function held in the LAICO auditorium on 4th April, 2007 to felicitate him for having received the Padma Shree Award at the hands of the President Dr. Abdul Kalam on 23rd March in New Delhi. The chairman did not want to use the term “Aravind employees”. Instead he referred them as “those who work for Aravind Eye Care System”.
      “I dedicate this Award to each and every one of you who is working for this institution, who has been with us and who is going to be with us. And then, I dedicate this award to my parents who made me an eye doctor” - Dr. P.N. said at the outset. He repeated the same sentiments which he had expressed a few weeks back to a group of Aravind staff by saying “this award is recognition not to an individual but to all the persons who are working with me for the upliftment of this institution”.
      The chairman narrated the sequence of events that made him a Retina - Vitreous Surgeon, the first one in India. At that time the main thrust was to reduce cataract blindness. But Dr. P.N’s interest was in another eye disorder that causes retinal blindness. When he was working in the Low Vision Aid clinic in the Government Erskine Hospital (now Rajaji Hospital) at Madurai he got ample time to learn about indirect ophthalmoscopy. Putting to use the mostly unused Indirect Ophthalmoscope that was available in the hospital, he with the assistance of Dr. Navamani, a cataract surgeon, performed retinal detachment surgeries on patients with out having any special instruments.
      When Dr. P.N informed about his intention to become a Retina surgeon, Dr.V did not stood in his way, but encouraged him to do what he liked. In 1972, when Diabetic Retinopathy study was started in USA, he joined the same as the first Diabetic Retinopathy Fellow. And that fellowship has now enabled him to initiate a number of research projects in Diabetic Retinopathy in Aravind Medical Research Foundation.
      Dr. P.N. mentioned in this connection that the first Retina - Vitreous clinic in India was started in Aravind Eye Hospital with training facility at which a lot of ophthalmologists have been trained in retina - vitreous surgeries. Such clinics now found in various parts of the country are the offshoots of Aravind Retina - Vitreous Clinic.
      Referring to the tasks ahead on the long journey towards the goal of preventing and eradicating needless blindness, Dr. P.N. asked every one working in Aravind to have faith in the vision and mission of Aravind and faith in his or her capability to fulfill the tasks for achieving the vision. The chairman said that Aravind is developing resources not for our own institution and country only, but for the whole international community. We want to develop human resource needed for various sections. And we want to start a University for sharing our knowledge and for training ophthalmologists all over the world in speciality eye care, he said.
      In conclusion the chairman said that “we have to respect the Award, respect the people who have given us the Award by doing the good work, and continuing the good work of Aravind Eye Care System. And this Award has put an additional responsibility. I thank you once again for your felicitations. And I hope you will be with me to lead the institution further.”
      The felicitation function attended by Aravind leaders, doctors, ophthalmic assistants and other staff members, commenced with an invocation song by Mr. Sanil Joseph.
      Dr. S.R. Krishna Das, CMO, delivered the welcome address. Dr. S. Rathinam, chief of Uvea Clinic, presented a bouquet to the chairman. Mr. R. Meenakshi Sudaram, Senior Manager - Camps and Mr. Muthuramalingam, Faculty, School of Optometry spoke on the multifaceted qualities and talents of Dr. Namperumalsamy.
      Ms. Uma, secretary of Dr. P.N, Dr. V.P. Ravindran of Free Hospital, Dr. VR. Muthukkaruppan, Director - Research, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, spoke felicitating Dr. P.N. Mr. Rajan and party narrated the life history of the chairman by Villupattu. Mr. Meenakshi Sundaram who had crafted a pencil drawing portrait Dr. P.N with in a short period of 48 hours presented the same to the chairman.
      The function came to an end with a video show on the investiture ceremony held in the Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan at New Delhi.

Chickungunya affects Eyes: Aravind Doctors’ Articles accepted by Prestigious Journals
Three articles on ocular involvement in Chickungunya infection written by doctors of Madurai and Tirunelveli Aravind Eye Hospitals have been accepted for publication by prestigious journals.
The titles and authors of the articles from Tirunelveli are given below:

1. Optic Neuritis related with Chikungunya Virus infection epidemic in South India by Apoorva Mittal, Saurabh Mittal, Jayahar Bharati, Rengappa Ramakrishnan,S. Saravanan, Padmakar S Sathe. This article has been accepted by the Ophthalmology (blue journal).
2. Uveitis associated with epidemic outbreak of Chikungunya virus fever by Apoorva Mittal, Saurabh Mittal, Jayahar Bharati, R. Ramakrishnan, Padmakar S Sathe. This article has been accepted by the Archives of Ophthalmology. The title and authors of article from Madurai:
   
3. Ocular Involvement Associated with an Epidemic Outbreak of Chikungunya Infection by Prajna Lalitha, Sivakumar Rathinam, Krishnadas, Shanmugam, Rajendran Vijayakumar, Padmakar Sathe. This article has been accepted by American Journal of Ophthalmology.

It Rains Music in summer!
On 21st of April, Mr. K.V. S. Lakshmanan (Consulting Editor, Laico), Mrs. Pattammal (MLOP Training Division), Mrs. Suganthi (Aurolab Marketing Manager), Ms. Deepthi (Guest Singer) and Mr. Sanil Joseph (Laico Faculty) created a summer shower of music. Mr. Joshua (Joe) (Out-Patient Coordinator) accompanied the singers on the guitar. Dr. Vaishnavi, M.S. Resident anchored the program.
      This musical event is all set to happen every month on one of the Saturdays at LAICO. The theme for the next program is “Folk Songs”. It can be songs, recital of poems or instrumental music. Employees from all over Aravind and the trainees from India and beyond are invited to take part.

Inauguration of Vision Centers
Alanganallur, Tirupuvanam, April 26
Two new Vision Centers were inaugurated on April 26. The Vision Center at Alanganallur (23 Kms from Madurai) was inaugurated by Dr. M. Srinivasan, Director-Aravind Eye Hospital. And the other at Tirupuvanam (19 Kms from Madurai) was inaugurated by Mr. R.D. Thulasiraj, Executive Director-LAICO.
      Aravind has blended information technology innovatively into these centers facilitating online (live) consultation for each patient with the ophthalmologists at the Aravind-Madurai which is a low cost telemedicine approach. This approach which is unique helps patients acquire right treatment advice directly from ophthalmologists which saves lot of time and money to the patients. These centers charge a nominal cost of Rs.10 /- for outpatient visits. The services include Comprehensive Eye screening, refraction, first aid, active referral, school screening and creating awareness and eye health education and promotion and dispensing of spectacles for the refractive error patients at the centre on the same day. Other services like testing for diabetes, etc. are also provided. This facilitates counselling these patients on the significance of diabetes and its direct implication to eyes in the form of blinding but preventable eye conditions like diabetic retinopathy. Outreach screening camps for specialty eye problems like diabetic retinopathy will be conducted twice a year at each vision centre. In addition to the above said services, irreversible blind persons are identified by the field workers and rehabilitated through appropriate training on life skills. Each centre is run by a well trained ophthalmic technician, a Counsellor / and 2 Eye Health workers.

Lady Medical Officers Lunch
Madurai, April 11
A Social meet was arranged to facilitate interaction between the Lady Medical Officers on April 11, 2007. A total of 18 Lady Medical Officers representing various Specialties of Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai were taken out for a special lunch meet at ‘Bell Hotel’. Besides Dr. Natchiar – Director- HRD the HR team was represented by Ms. Preethi – Senior Manager-HR and Mr. Gnanasekaran, HR Intern. The group had a very informal time and they enjoyed the opportunity provided for them to interact with each other. As an outcome it was felt that more proactive steps needed to be taken when a new Medical Officer joins the hospital to introduce the MO to the peers and make the new person feel more welcome into our Institute.

ICU Exhibition
Aravind-Coimbatore, April 20-21
ICU Exhibition was conducted at Aravind-Coimbatore from April 20-21. This exhibition was conducted to create awareness on the available facilities at the ICU. Nearly 550 members visited the exhibition.

Training in Instruments and Equipment Maintenance
The 50th (Golden Jubilee) course in Instruments Maintenance was held from February 1-March 11. The total number of technicians trained in Aravind crossed three hundred. A total of 302 trainees including 100 from 23 developing countries attended the course.

Vision Building and Strategic Planning Workshop
LAICO, April 9-13
Vision Building and Strategic Planning Workshop was conducted in LAICO from April 9-13 for two hospitals from Mumbai and Chennai. The objective of the workshop was to help the participating hospitals in the following:
  - Developing strategic plans for future development
  - To scale-up the performance in terms of surgical numbers, screening more outpatients in the base hospital and to organize more eye screening camps in the service area.
  - Utilizing the available resources in optimal manner
  - Broadening the spectrum of services both in terms of clinical and non clinical
  - Developing ideas to restructure the existing and newly built infrastructure for better patient care and to meet the demand.

A total of 16 persons participated in the workshop. The workshop was conducted for the following eye hospitals:

1. L.M.Patel Rotary Eye Hospital, Malad, Mumbai.
2. Lions Club of Madras and Velacherry Eye Hospital, Chennai

XIV Management Training and Systems Development for Hospital Administrators
LAICO, April 16-May 26
The fourteenth course of Management Training & Systems Development for Hospital Administrators was held from April 16-May 26. A total of 8 persons participants participated in the course. The Participants are from the following Places

- Grameen Eye Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- St. Marys Catholic Eye Hospital, Ogun, Nigeria
- Susrut Eye Foundation & Research Centre, Kolkata, West Bengal
- Dr. Shroffs Charity Eye Hospital, New Delhi, New Delhi
- Thulsi Eye Hospital, Nashik, Maharashtra
- Eye Care and Research Centre, Kolkata, West Bengal
- Ahalia Foundation Eye Hospital, Palakkad, Kerala

CME Programme on Update in Ophthalmology for practicing Ophthalmologists and general practitioners
Aravind-Theni, April 22
A one day CME Programme on Update in ophthalmology for practicing ophthalmologists and general practitioners was held at Aravind Eye Hospital, Theni on April 22, 2007. The main goal of the conference was to provide new insights and approaches in the field of ophthalmology and modern management techniques. Such an orientation will go a long way to facilitate early diagnosis, prompt treatment locally by them or through referral mechanism.
      The inaugural function commenced with prayer song and Dr.P.Namperumalsamy, Chairman, Aravind Eye Care System welcomed the delegates. A total of 8 speakers, 30 delegates and 2 ophthalmic companies participated in this conference.

First Instruments Maintenance course in French
Aravind-Puducherry, May 1
The first Instruments Maintenance course in French Medium for technicians of Francophone countries was started on May 1, 2007. Dr. R. D. Ravindan, Chief Medical Officer inaugurated the course. Mr. Srinivasan, Mr. Kanagaraj, Mr. Poobalan were present at the inaugural function. Mr. Zigant Marc Dominique from Burkina-Faso and Mr. Ramerison Mamisoa from Madagascar attended the course.

A Chennai Resident who rushed to Madurai for treatment at Aravind

It is astounding to learn the degree of confidence people like Mr. Ganapathy have in the quality of Aravind’s eye care service, and also their awareness for taking any injury in the eye region seriously. A painter by profession and winner of a number of physical beauty contests, Mr. Ganapathy rushed to Madurai, or rather made to rush to Madurai from Chennai for getting treatment at Aravind, despite the fact that there are some well known eye hospitals in that city.

Mr. Ganapathy belonging to a middle class family is living with his wife Muniamma and daughter Kanagavalli in the Tambaram area of Chennai. Now aged 60, he sustained an injury in his eye region when an milch animal in his house hit him by its horn last month. The time then was 5 0’ clock in the evening. The hit made his eye reddish and painful.

As soon as his daughter Kanagavalli returned from her work place, Mr.Ganapathy informed her about his injury. She advised him not to go to any Chennai eye hospital, but immediately proceed to Madurai for getting necessary treatment at Aravind Eye Hospital.

Kanagavalli was not in a position to accompany her father. Muniamma, despite her left hand was bandaged for a fracture came forward to give company to Mr. Ganapathy. With in 3 hours after sustaining the injury, he and his wife were on their way to Madurai. It was Sunday morning when the couple landed at Madurai and when they learnt that it was weekly holiday for the hospital, they stayed at a friend’s house in the city.

On Monday, they came to Aravind where Mr. Ganapathy’s injury in the eye area was examined. The doctors found the injury had not affected either the eye or vision and gave medicines for the external injury. Mr. Ganapathy became immensely happy to know that his eye was not affected in any way.

“Why have you come all the way to Madurai for treatment when there are big eye hospitals in Chennai itself?” - Mr. Ganapathy was asked by Aravind staff.

He replied: “Immediately after I was hit by the animal, I informed my sister who is living in Karaikudi over phone. She told me to go to Aravind - Madurai for treatment. My daughter also gave me the same advice. Moreover, eye is more important for a man. So, I came to Aravind, leaving all my pending works. I am now relieved to know that there is no danger to my eye.”

Aravind News congratulates Mr. Ganapathy for the concern he has for his eye and the confidence his family members have on Aravind that if one gets any eye related problem he should immediately go to Aravind!.

Source : Muthuchitra
Script   : K.V.S. Lakshmanan

APRIL 2007
	Madurai	Theni	Tirunelveli	Coimbatore	Puducherry	Managed Eye Hospitals	Total
HOSPITAL OUT-PATIENT VISIT
Paying	31,828	4676	14,031	21,487	13,604	8,188	93,814
Free - Direct	11,532	1,705	5,200	8,231	4,158	-	30,826
OUTREACH
Comprehensive Free Eye Camps	11,777	1,595	4,413	8,125	7,093	2,986	35,989
Diabetic Retinopathy Camps	2,069	-	1,449	1,840	3,056	-	8,414
Refractive Camps	999	-	197	477	243	575	2,491
School Eye Screening	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Vision Centres	418	1,702	-	-	-	-	2,120
Community Eye Clinics	2,427	-	1,876	1,236	-	-	5,539
TOTAL OUT-PATIENT VISITS	61,050	9,678	27,166	41,396	28,154	11,749	1,79,193
SURGERIES
Paying	4,184	277	1,354	2,435	1,102	503	9,855
Free (Direct & Camp)	5,382	398	2,092	3,783	1,950	841	14,446
TOTAL SURGERIES	9,566	675	3,446	6,218	3,052	1,344	24,301