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22nd December 2006 - Visit by Office Bearers and Patron from TANA, Sankara Guntur
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 The Telugu Association of North America (TANA) , has been instrumental in the construction of Sankara Eye Hospital Guntur. Over the years their sustained support has enabled us to restore the gift of vision to 1000's in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
TANA' has embarked onorganizing several Culture, Language and Social Welfare programs in Andhra Pradesh. This rare opportunity came in the name of 'Chaitanya Sravanthi'. The Executive Committe members of TANA and our Patron Mr Jayaram Komti accompanied other dignitaries to Sankara EYe Hospital Guntur on the 22nd and spent time with the staff and doctors.
Sankara Guntur is proud to have emerged as one of the leading partners of TANA in the "Operation Envision" programme. As a part of the sustained support from TANA and Mr Komti, he graciously donated a bus for use in our rural outreach programme. |
1st –3rd December - South East Asia Glaucoma Interest Group (SEAGIG) International Glaucoma Symposium , Chennai. |
The Fourth Scientific Meeting of SEAGIG to be held conjointly with the Glaucoma Society of India. Glaucoma is the cause of considerable blindness in Asia, and is associated with specific problems in this region: the epidemiology and natural history of this disease differs from that in developed countries elsewhere.
SEAGIG was established to facilitate contact between glaucoma specialists in the region to increase the opportunities for exchange of skills and knowledge in this rapidly advancing field and to be up to date with advances in all aspects of glaucoma diagnosis and management.
The department of Glaucoma, Sankara Eye Centre ,Coimbatore has been invited to make presentation on the surgical and medical aspects of managing this disease at this august forum.
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14th Novemeber ,2006- Children’s Day at Guntur. |
 It has been the philospphy of ORBIS international that nationwide community-based paediatric eye care programmes and mandatory eye tests would mitigate prevalence of childhood blindness. The Paediatric eye care department at Sankara Eye Hospital Guntur established with support from ORBIS International carries forward this very same philosophy. It not only educates the public, but takes a proactive approach to treating reversible vision loss in children. Trained refractionists visit schools in the Guntur- Vijayawada region, and examine kids' eyes. They are then examined by Ophthalmologists who provide glasses and advice surgical management where appropriate.
As a part of the Children’s day celebrations this year,370 Students at the Oriental school [a below poverty line school] situated in the heart of Guntur were screened . A unique feature of the school is that clothes and books of the students are contributed by the teachers.
A valedictory function was held on November 14th, at the school premises presided over by the Mayor of Guntur, who distributed corrective prescription glasses to 25 students. But for this initiative these children would have probably continued with impaired vision, unaware that they suffered from one of the most common causes of reversible blindness. |
8th October 2006 - Dr.R.K.Seth Memorial Award by Venu Eye Insitute & Research Centre, New Delhi. |
 Sankara Eye Centre, Coimbatore has been recognised as the best community eye care institution in the Country by the renowned Venu Eye Institute of New Delhi. Dr. R K Seth Memorial Award for the “Outstanding performance in Community Ophthalmology in India” has been conferred on Sankara Eye Centre on 8th October 2006 at New Delhi.
A Panel of Jury comprising of eminent leaders in Ophthalmology in the country and abroad including the Deputy Director General of Ophthalmology – Government of India have meticulously evaluated a host of eye care institutions spread throughout India and identified Sankara Eye Centre, Coimbatore as the best.
Three decades of dedicated service, exemplary facilities in modern eye care, an involved and committed team of Doctors and paramedics focused on the “Cause”, over 3 lakhs eye surgeries to its credit, presently performing over 1250 eye surgeries every week, involved in teaching and training of medical and paramedical personnel, made a mark in research, a leader in Eye Banking and Corneal Transplants, it is little wonder that this Mission for Vision has been duly recognised at the National level.
It is indeed a recognition to the city of Coimbatore and the surrounding regions. All of us can feel proud of the achievement of this great Institution.
Photo : Dr. R.V. Ramani, Managing Trustee of Sankara Eye Centre receiving the National Award from Prof. Gorden Johnson from UK. Others in the Picture are Dr. Jose, Deputy Director General of Ophthalmology – Government of India, Dr. Tanuja Joshi, Managing Director – Venu Eye Institute, New Delhi, Prof. G V S Murthy from AIIMS – New Delhi and Dr. Nelson Jesudasan. |
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20th September, 2006 - Dinner meet on “Posterior Capsule Opacification”, with Coimbatore Ophthalmologists Association |
Posterior capsule opacification (PCO) is still the most frequent complication of cataract surgery. A variety of studies has led to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of PCO, and strategies of molecular biology have produced new therapeutic options, such as immunological techniques or gene therapeutic approaches. For the United States, it has been estimated that the overall expenses for treatment of PCO are only exceeded by the costs for cataract treatment itself. In the past decade, a lot of experimental and clinical studies have been performed on this topic.
As a part of the ongoing scientific for a under the aegis of the Coimbatore Ophthalmologists Association a dinner meet on PCO was organized. A guest lecture on PCO - Pathology & Clinical evaluation by Dr. Haripriya Aravind from Aravind Eye Hosptial, Madurai was followed by a talk by Dr JK Reddy on - newer concepts on PCO, IOL Design & Materials. He shared his experience in our design “CLEAROPTIX” which is pending patent and its role in PCO reduction.
The dinner was hosted by Aurolab and Microvision. |
5th September 2006 - Formal Launch of Sankara–ORBIS Paediatric Ophthalmology Programme, Guntur |
  The three-year project started in August 2004with an aims to reduce avoidable childhood blindness in three Districts of Andhra Pradesh State, India. Smt JayaLakshmi, I.A.S., Dist Collector,was the Chief Guest for the function. Other dignitaries included Jyothi Nagpal, ORBIS Country Office, New Delhi and Dr S Satish Kumar Secretary, Indian Medical Association.
The Paediatric Department, the consultation room and play area and the specially equipped paediatric recovery room were inaugurated by the collector. Special services offered to children in the age group of 0-16 and the opening of the Paediatric Ophthalmic Department, came in for a lot of appreciation, by the Collector. She promised her whole hearted support to the hospital for it activities through her personal capacity and through the governmental agencies.
She expressed her immense pleasure in being associated with the opening of the Paediatric Ophthalmic Department on Teachers’ Day as the services rendered by the teachers towards this program was immense.
Ms Jyothi Nagpal, Programme Manager, Country Office, New Delhi, ORBIS INTERNATIONAL, USA shared with the audience the philosophy of ORBIS, and appreciated the work being carried out at Guntur. She remarked that in association with local organizations ORBIS was helping in the fight to eradicate curable blindness in the society. Among the centres operational in the state the Sankara Eye hospital was audited to have the best outcome.
Under the Project a full-fledged paediatric unit has been established, school-screening activities initiated and public education for teachers, parents and children enhanced. |
2nd September 2006 – Interactive Seminar on Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme |
 The NPCB-WHO (1986-89) estimates of corneal blindness (5.96 lakh unilateral blind and 1.91 lakh bilateral blind) are considered conservative figures by many based on several other indirect estimates.
To achieve 2.7 lakh donor eye collection a year will remain elusive without achieving 50% grief counselling coverage and at least 30-40% positive consents in the population covered by 100 eye banks.
To address the non- availability of quality corneal tissues, the Eye bank Association of India (EBAI) came up with a new strategy called the Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme (HCRP). As a part of the Eye Donation Fortnight a workshop on grief counseling was conducted at the hospital on 2nd September. Over 45 ICU and intensive care nurses and administrators attended the interactive for a. Ln Selvaraj who has over the years motivated over 100 families to donate the eyes of the departed was recognized.
District Governor , Lion C G V Ganesan, District C24 B5 was the chief guest for the function.
Eye banking in India is in a very nascent stage. Boosting eye collections will result from a combination of publicity, wider practice of grief counselling, targeted hospital retrieval programme, facilitator legal provisions, and public awareness regarding spontaneous voluntary eye donations.
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| 11th to 13th August 2006- 54th Annual conference of TNOA, Pondicherry |
"Bonne Vue (Good Sight) - 2006" was the 54th Annual conference of the Tamilnadu State Ophthalmic Association, hosted at JIPMER from 11th to 13th August 2006, at Pondicherry.
The meeting highlight was an excellent scientific meeting covering comprehensively both the basic and the recent advances in the field of Ophthalmology.
Faculty from Sankara, were invited to present papers and give talks on various facets of Cataract Surgery, Refractive Surgery and Practice Management. Apart from these our fellows presented videos on rare cases operated on at our centre and a poster on advanced Excimer treatment.
Our Chief Patron of the Krishnankovil Rural Eye Hospital, Dr.Vivekananda Raja was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to eye care in rural Tamilnadu. It was also a wonderful opportunity to explore the natural and artistic beauty, the rich culture and tradition of Pondicherry.
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| 19th July 2006 – Graduation Day Ceremony |
Graduation Day ceremony of the 2nd and 3rd batches of Eye Care Managers and Vision Care Technicians of the Sankara Tulsi National Institute of Community Ophthalmology was held today.
 The programme was of to a very auspicious start with a satsang by the Guest of honour, Sri Arun Madhavan, Chairman, Vyakti Vikas Kendra, India. He explained to the students that mere knowledge would not help and awareness of the surroundings in which they live was equally important.
Dr Radha Ramani welcomed the gathering for this wonderful occasion. The courses have been designed to ensure that along with the technical knowledge empathy and practical working skills are taught. This has ensured an opportunity to work for all the students who have completed the course. Diploma holders today hold key positions at our hospitals in Coimbatore, Guntur and Krishnankoil. The next generation of eye care visionaries required for the proposed projects at Bangalore and Shimoga are already being trained.
In his presidential address Dr S V Balasubramaniam, Chairman spoke on how important imparting knowledge and technical skill was and identified it as the key factor in the development of any Institution.
Dr Neeraj Mittal, IAS , District Collector Coimbatore was the chief guest. He asked the students to take quality eye care to the rural areas. He lauded the students saying that they were doing a service to millions of people residing in the rural areas through choosing this compassionate vocation.
19 eye care managers and 35 vision care technicians graduated in the 2 batches. Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission. Every year we recognize the best outgoing student in the Eye Care Management Course with the Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Citation and the Best out going Vision Care Technician with Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi Citation. The Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi Citation was awarded to Ms Yesumariayal.
Dr Leela Meenkashi our trustee spoke of the genesis of the organisation and this was followed by the formal vote of thanks.
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7th July – 10th July 2006 - Evaluation of Eye Care in Fiji
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On an invitation by the reedy Ernst Vision Trust, Dr P Janakiraman our Consultant visited the island nation of Fiji. During his stay there he evaluated the facilities and the aid needed to improve the services provided to the people.
Dr Janakiraman visited the Lautoka Hospital and the Ba Mission Hospital where he saw the infrastructure in place and inspected related projects that were undertaken by the Reddy Ernst Vision Trust.
Dr Janakiraman called on Minister for Health Dr Gunasegran Gounder and indicated specific areas where the trust could improve its services. He also visited 2 other hospitals. This visit was to evaluate and find ways that efforts could be made in collaboration with the Sankara Eye Centre in India to improve eyecare services of Fiji.
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10th - 14 th June 2006 - Asia-pacific Academy of Ophthalmology
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 We are witnessing incredible development in the world of modern ophthalmology due to recent spectacular advances in medical science and technology.
However, even more incredible is the continuing advancement of Asian ophthalmology.the 21st Congress of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology to be held from June 10 to 14, 2006. APAO 2006 takes place in Singapore.
Dr JK Reddy and Dr Ajita were invited to make presentations in cornea, glaucoma and in "Varifocal" the refractive bifocal developed at Sankara. Our Video presentation on Non Penetrating Glaucoma Filtering Surgery was shortlisted for the awards session.
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18 th May 2006 – CME on ophthalmic infections
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In association with the Coimbatore ophthalmic association and the Ajanta Pharmaceuticals, a CME on Infectious Keratitis and Levofloxacin in ophthalmic infections was organised. Severe infectious keratitis is a major cause of ocular morbidity in our country. Everyday irrespective of our subspeciality we are bound to come across some of these patients.
Dr M Srinivasan, Director of the Aravind Eye Hospitals and Head of the Dept of Cornea, delivered the talk on infectious keratitis. Dr Kavitha Consultant, Paediatric ophthalmology department Sankara Eye Centre Coimbatore deliberated on the current status of levofloxacin in ophthalmic infections. The meeting was attended by over 60 delegates.
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13 th May 2006 – Visit by HH Sri Jayendra Saraswati, Sankaracharya of Kanchi , Guntur
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 Sankara Eye Hospital, Guntur was blessed with the visit of HH Sri Jayendra Saraswati, Sankaracharya of Kanchi. The Acharya expressed his satisfaction at the remarkable growth the institution has shown in the past 2 years since the facility was inaugurated in 2004.
The occasion was also very special as, on the eve of the 113th birth anniversary celebration of Paramacharya Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, a wax statue of the Paramacharya was consecrated in the hospital lobby.
This unique life like statue of Paramacharya was a gift by Shri Gangaraju Garu, Chairman and Managing Trustee of Laila Group of Industries, Vijayawada. During the course of his anugraha bhasana, the Sankaracharya blessed team Sankara and encouraged them to continue the good work.
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28th March – 28th April 2006 - “Lumie're Seychelles”
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 Seychelles is a tourists paradise with immaculate, uncrowded beaches of powder soft white sands. A glorious tropical climate and warm turquoise waters caressing 115 diverse and tranquil islands. A kaleidoscopic array of untouched forests, bird sanctuaries and exotic holidays.
Unfortunately it has a very high percentage of its population with curable blindness. A large proportion of the visually impaired suffer from cataract, glaucoma and diabetic eye disease.
 Sankara Eye Care Institutions was requested to send a team adept at high volume quality eye care to help the Government of Seychelles tide over this precarious health problem. The programme was coordinated by Dr Ramdoss, Special Advisor Ministry of Health, Government of Seychelles.
Sankara deputed a team of 2 eye surgeons who during the course of their stay there performed 107 surgeries, dispensed over 350 prescription glasses and completed over 950 consultations. A variety of eye diseases from refractive errors to cataracts and glaucoma were diagnosed and treated. A few rare conditions, like a patient suffering from sarcoidoses was also diagnosed.
President His Excellency James Michel, appreciated the gesture of Sankara Eye Care Institutions India and commended the work of our surgeons. He hoped for a permanent relationship with the Sankara Eye Care Institutions where we would help establish protocols and procedures and would regularly depute personnel to target specific eye ailments.
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24 th March 2006 – “Rainbow”, screening of school children with grant from the Office of the President of India & Announcement of ISO 9001:2000 accreditation
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The honorable and respected His Excellency President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam is known for his fondness for children. On the occasion of World Sight Day, he announced a grant of Rs 10 lakhs towards childhood blindness, subsequently he decided to use this amount for providing spectacles for poor children. 5 institutions were recognized across India. Our institution is one among them to receive the grant in aid to eventually benefit 2000 children.
 Describing the project Dr R V Ramani revealed that over 220 schools have been screened and the first batch of 714 children were given their appropriate glasses by the chief guest for the afternoon, Dr D R Kartikeyan Former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the National Human Rights Commission. The next phase would be tailored to benefit children of various orphanages around Coimbatore.
 As our continuing endeavor to make our hospital child friendly and to make the entire experience of hospital check up and the eye testing pleasurable and fun we have instituted a play area within the campus. This too was dedicated to the children this evening.
At Sankara we pride in providing quality eye care to all irrespective of their affordability. We are honoured to receive the ISO 9001:2000 accreditation.On behalf of Sankara Eye Centre, our Chairman Dr S V Balasubramaniam received the certificate of ISO accredition.
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17th - 22nd March 2006 – ASCRS, San Francisco
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At the annual meeting of the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgeons at San Francisco Presentation from Sankara would be made on various sub specialties of eye care.
Talks have been invited on our innovation Titanium Sandwich Keratoprosthesis for Multiple Corneal Graft Failure and Trypan-Blue-Assisted Non-penetrating Deep Sclerectomy for Open-Angle Glaucoma. Sankara is proud to house the latest technological advances to treat eye ailments. Dr JK Reddy, Assistant Director would be presenting Corneal Wavefront-Guided Surface Ablation for Irregular Corneal Astigmatism with the Esiris ORK Program
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9th March 2006 - Bhoomi Pooja of Sankara Eye Hospital, Shimoga
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 As a part of our expansion into Karnataka, the formal function for the Sankara Eye Hospital at Shimoga in Karnataka was performed today. On completion the institution would cater to Northern Karnataka and the Malnad region.
A religious function was held in the morning attended by P.Balasubramaniam ,Shri PJ Bagilthaya and Dr R V Ramani, Hon advisor,Patron and Managing Trustee of our trust .Doctors from the Shimoga region being trained at our centres at Coimbatore,KrishnanKovil and Guntur and our well wishers attended the function.
In the evening the bhoomi pooja was conducted in the august presence of H H Jayendra Saraswathi,Sankaracharya of Kanchi.
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1st March 2006 - Making a Difference , 2 nd Anniversary Celebrations of Sankara Eye Hospital, Guntur
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S  ankara Eye Hospital celebrated its second anniversary today on a very successful note. When the hospital opened in April 2004, hospital administrators hoped to treat up to thousand patients per month. Exceeding this goal every month since opening, the Sankara Eye Hospital has experienced remarkable growth in all aspects of eye care.
“One of the most gratifying aspects of the past two years has been the solid teamwork put forth by everyone at the Sankara Eye Hospital,” said Dr R V Ramani, Managing Trustee to the staff on this wonderful occasion.
 The not-for-profit hospital also has fulfilled its mission to improve the health of the community at large, with special attention to service of the poor. In the past two years, the hospital’s community outreach included
Providing charity surgical eye care worth over Rs.1.5 crores in to the rural poor
Organised continuing medical education initiatives.
Organised free health screenings and provided comprehensive eye care to school children in Guntur through the ORBIS International supported Paediatric eye care programme.
The day began with a religious function attended by the deputy mayor of Guntur and our patrons. The staff of Guntur organised a cultural evening to celebrate the 2 years of working for the community. 20 girls trained as Eye Care Managers and Vision Care Technicians received their certificates making it an even more memorable evening for them.
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31st January 2006 - “Grand Rounds in Glaucoma”
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 Glaucoma affects one to two per cent of the population, which in the Indian context means one to two crore of our fellow Indians are affected by this disease.
There have been many advances in the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma. With an aim to bring the knowledge of these advances to our fellow ophthalmologists we organized a CME on glaucoma.
Dr Rajendra Kumar Bansal, a world renowned Glaucoma Surgeon, Associate professor at the Columbia University Newyork, spoke on Indentation Gonioscopy and emerging trends in Medical Management of Glaucoma. Coimbatore has been in the forefront of innovations. Dr JK Reddy, Asst Director, Sankara Eye Centre shared his innovation - the Kovai Keratoprosthesis. This was followed by a talk by Dr Sathyan ,Head Glaucoma Services , Aravind Eye Hosptial on Central Corneal Thickness and its role in glaucoma management.
This interactive forum was attended by over 120 post graduates and practicing ophthalmologists from Coimbatore, Mettupalayam and Palaghat.
 Dr Sachin, our junior consultant, received the Gold medal in Ophthalmology, in the exam conducted by the Diplomate of the National Board, Ministry of Health, Government of India. He was recognized with a memento from the Sankara Eye Care Institutions.
The programme was hosted by Allergan Pharma.
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10th January 2006 – Long Service Awards, Sankara Coimbatore
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 Dreams and dedication are a powerful combination. By dreaming for the impossible we obtain the best possible. We at Sankara are proud to the best in the field of community eye care and we dare to dream to achieve our goal of 20/20 by 2020.Today we felicitated those who have served our organization for 5 years and made this dream a reality.
The function began with an auspicious invocation by Dr Sharth and Dr Visalakshi. We were fortunate to have with us for this function our partner Shri Dasi Bhudrani , whose simplicity was endearing. Shri Makhijani our wellwisher also participated in this function.
 Over the years we have been recognizing the work of all our collegues from the security to the doctors who have made this movement possible. Shri Dasi Bhudrani conferred the long service awards to 20 of our staff.
Our chairman Dr S V Balasubramanian and our Honarary Director Dr S Balasubramanian honoured our guests and felicitated the awardees.
The formal function concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Dr Leela Meenakshi. To add colour to the evening we had a variety entertainment programme by our staff and a music orchestra organized by Rtn. C G Kumar.
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