Dr. G. Natchiar was awarded the "For the Sake of Honour Award" by Rotary Club of Pondicherry Mid Town on April 7, 2013. The award recognizes her meritorious service to the field of ophthalmology.

She was also presented with the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Lions Clubs International District 324 A3 at a function held on April 20 in Pondicherry. The award came in recognition of her illustrious contribution to the field of eye care.

Mr. Sanil Joseph participated and led the Reform roundtable seminar organised by The Reform Research Trust, UK in London. The seminar explored the principles behind the Aravind model and their relevance in enhancing UK’s National Health Services (NHS).

Sanil Joseph presented the Aravind model in a seminar titled Driving down the cost of high-quality health care at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London on 23rd April, 2013. The seminar was attended by faculty and students from various departments of the school.

Dr. R.D. Ravindran and Mr. Sanil Joseph visited Moorfields Eye Hospitals to understand their quality assurance systems, electronic medical records and performance appraisal process.

Dr. P. Sundaresan has been awarded Indo-Australia Senior Scientist Science and Technology visiting Fellowship by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi. As part of this programme, he visited Department of Ophthalmology at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. The objectives of the visit were mainly to have scientific interaction to perform the Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) for diabetic retinopathy in Indian population and to discuss their research findings on GWAS in Australian population in order to validate the above findings in Indian population.

During this visit Dr. P. Sundaresan worked on exome sequencing of candidate genes for Diabetic retinopathy and analysed the whole genome sequence data. He presented a seminar on The Molecular Genetics of Glaucoma to the Department of Ophthalmology. The second presentation was on Genetic and proteomic work investigating the molecular basis of corneal dystrophies under the Flinders Clinical and Molecular Medicine seminar series. 

Dr Sundaresan met with senior members (Dr. Kathryn Burdon, Dr Shiwani Sharma, Prof Jamie Craig, Prof Justine Smith and Dr Binoy Appukuttan) of the Department of Ophthalmology to discuss research synergies and potential for collaboration between two institutions.

In addition, during this programme, he made a brief visit to Centre for Eye Research Australia, Dept. of Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne and gave a guest lecture on Genetics of glaucoma – an Indian perspective and met Prof. Paul N Baird, Dr. Noela Prasad, and Prof. Jill Keeffe.

To promote medical tourism in Tamil Nadu, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) with support from Government of Tamil Nadu organized Tamil Nadu Health Tourism - An International Conference and Exhibition on Health Tourism at Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai. Around 40 exhibitors from various industries like hospitals, travel Agencies and media participated in the exhibition. The event served as a platform to discuss emerging trends, challenges in Medical Tourism and issues pertaining to patients, including medical insurance, legal aspects, food and translators at hospitals. Aravind also put up a stall displaying posters on several of our activities.

  Aravind – Dindigul conducted the first glaucoma screening camp in the last week of April. A total of 291 patients attended the camp, out of which there were 204 review patients and 87 new patients. Among this 87 new patients, 8 were newly identified patients.

Uveitis Society of India and Aravind Eye Hospital – Salem jointly organized the CME at Hotel Cenneys Gateway, Salem. Around 70 participants involving ophthalmologists, PG students attended the conference. Dr. Sudha K Ganesh, President, Uveitis Society of India welcomed the audience to the meet. Notable speakers include Dr. Jyotirmay Biswas and  Dr. Sudha K Ganesh from  Sankara Nethralaya, Dr. Rathinam, Aravind - Madurai, Dr. Manohar Babu, - Vice President, Uveitis Society of India, Dr. Anuradha and Dr. Balamurugan from Aravind - Coimbatore and Pondicherry respectively. Quiz was conducted, hosted by Dr. J. Biswas and Dr.Balamurugan. Dr. Saravana Bhava, Secretary-Salem Ophthalmic Association conveyed vote of thanks.

Twenty two women from seven different hamlets in the Poonthurai and Perambai panchayats spent three days at Aravind Eye Hospital and related projects in Madurai. The activities introduced the women to several local projects that exemplified the ability of women to overcome tremendous obstacles and achieve a level of financial independence and personal empowerment. The program started in one of the classrooms at the hospital with a moving introduction by Dr. Natchiar. This session set the tone for the whole programme. The team visited a plastic recycling plant and several income generation projects. Visit to Aurofarm was a thoroughly rejuvenating one. Ms. Deepa Krishnan showed some very powerful videos highlighting the accomplishments of a woman who had lost both hands. The team also got a chance to interact with Mr. Shivalingam, author of Vizhivaelvi.

The programme was organized with support from Rotary club and IMA, Batlagundu. Members of Rotary Club, IMA, staff and nursing students from Leonard Hospital attended the programme. Mr. D. Saravanan, Eye Bank Manager handled the session. Concept of eye donation, demand and supply of corneas, eye bank services etc were discussed in detail during the session.

March 26
To build the capacity of the ward secretaries, Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre towards promoting eye donation and implementing the HCRP programme in an effective way, an awareness programme was arranged. Mr. D. Saravanan handled the session.

Sale of tomatoes grown organically at Aurofarm was arranged at LAICO basement. Staff belonging to different cadres was benefitted from this. Around 130kg of tomatoes were sold during the sales which lasted for just an hour.

To know the perception of Aravind staff as to how best the value system and work culture defined by Dr. V has been transferred and shaping up amongst the employees, a survey was conducted by Mr. Trichy Krishnan and Mr. Michael Frese, Professors at NUS Business School, Singapore. They conducted the survey across Aravind Eye Hospitals through a structured questionnaire named "VALUE SURVEY" which was facilitated through the HR department. They provided two sets of questionnaires - one to capture perception of the people who manage the organization and the next to capture the perception of the MLOPs in the organization.  In the first phase, the questionnaire was administered to the management team and senior doctors across Aravind and about 61 responses were collected.  In the second phase the questionnaire was administered to MLOPs and Administrative staff. About 250 responses were collected. The responses in both these phases were analysed by the NUS team. The findings were presented before the senior management team of Aravind.

Aravind - Tirunelveli hosted a special debate organized by All India Radio. Renowned Tamil orator, Prof. Ramachandran was the moderator for the debate which was attended by MLOPs and admin staff.

  Two of the cleaning staff were promoted as heads of the cleaning department at Aravind - Madurai. The HR department organized a formal meeting to introduce them to other cleaners.

Ms. Varalakshmi explained them the selection criteria and the added responsibilities of the newly selected heads. Dr. Kim, Chief Medical Officer congratulated the new Head cleaners and appreciated their remarkable work for the organization. Dr. Usha Kim motivated all the cleaners through simple and powerful stories.

As part the capacity building engagement with LAICO, two hospitals – Lions Eye Hospital, Madanapalle Andhra Pradesh and CCBRT, Tanzania – participated in the Vision Building Workshop with a multidisciplinary team comprising of ophthalmologists, paramedics, administrative staff and directors. The team reassessed the need for eye care in their communities and developed strategies to address this.

Seven participants from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Philippines and Cameroon attended the course. The course equips the trainees to the different aspects of hospital administration – outpatient, inpatient and surgery work systems, management of HR, inventory, finances, medical records, and spectacle and pharmacy dispensing. It also imparts practical exposure to systems for quality assurance, efficiency and the finer aspects of patient centred care.

  A one day retreat meeting facilitated by Prof. DVR Seshadri from IIM Bangalore was held to help the teams think through the process that would help in operationalize the Aravind 2020 goals. The discussions were limited to four big specialities – Retina, Glaucoma, Paediatric and Cornea. In order to help facilitate this process, the MAP project team from the Ross Business School, University of Michigan met with several of the senior leaders to study the strategies and key challenges in the road ahead. This project culminated in this Visioning Workshop for all the senior leaders of Aravind. Around thirty of the senior members from different Aravind centres participated in this meeting.

  Sitapur Eye Hospital in Uttar Pradesh was once the premier institute for eye care in India. Today, with a committed and active leadership team, the hospital is regaining its old glory. In order to build the hospital’s capacity, they have engaged LAICO’s consultancy wing. As an initial step, a team from Aravind comprising Dr. Meenakshi, Senior Medical Officer, Aravind-Tirunelveli, Suresh, Faculty, LAICO, Sr Varghese, Staff Nurse – OT, Aravind-Madurai and Priya, Manager, Pediatric Clinic, Aravind – Pondicherry carried out the needs assessment.

The second learning session of the Collaborative for Achieving Excellence in Eye Care Delivery was held at LAICO in the third week of April. Ms. Sasipriya, Senior Faculty – LAICO gave the workshop overview. A total of 15 participants from 6 hospitals attended the workshop.

This learning series is focused on helping the participating hospitals improve their financial sustainability by increasing their paying clientele. This is achieved through a structured process of continuous improvement – a yearlong engagement with periodic inputs and reviews.

Thulasiraj, Executive Director – LAICO, Dr. Sivakumar, Senior Medical Officer, Aravind – Tirunelveli and Ms. Sasipriya, Faculty, LAICO visited the Government Eye Hospital at Fayoum Governorate along with a consultant team from Al Noor Foundation. This was part of an initiative to build capacity at the Al Noor Foundation at Cairo to develop it into a resource centre for their region. Mr Paul Courtright from KCCO was also part of the team.

  Dr. Ken Bassett, Professor and Division Head, British Columbia Centre for Epidemiology and International Ophthalmology (BCEIO), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada facilitated the workshop which was mainly aimed to develop internal capacity of LAICO to carry out meaningful operational research projects.

 

Course title	Training Centre	Total Number Trained as on April 2013	Enrollments for May 2013
Long term Fellowship Programmes for Ophthalmologists
Fellowship in Cornea	Madurai	68	1
	Coimbatore	35	0
	Pondicherry	8	0
Fellowship in Retina - Vitreous	Madurai	110	0
	Tirunelveli	7	0
	Coimbatore	38	1
	Pondicherry	15	0
Short Term Courses - For Ophthalmologists
Diagnosis and Management of Glaucoma	Madurai	117	1
	Tirunelveli	149	1
	Coimbatore	112	2
	Pondicherry	4	0
Small Incision Cataract Surgery	Madurai	180	0
	Tirunelveli	119	1
	Coimbatore	146	0
	Pondicherry	27	2
Lasers in Diabetic Retinopathy	Madurai	281	1
	Coimbatore	277	2
	Pondicherry	7	0
Phacomulsification	Madurai	164	2
	Tirunelveli	89	0
	Coimbatore	124	2
	Pondicherry	25	0
Short term training in Vitrectomy	Madurai	18	0
	Coimbatore	8	1
Ocularist	Madurai	27	1
Management of Retinopathy of Prematurity & Paediatric Retinal Disorders	Coimbatore	10	1
Fundus Angiography and Ultrasonography	Madurai	46	1
Eye Bank Courses
Training in Eye Bank Techniques	Madurai	4	1

 

• J AAPOS. 2013 Apr 19. [Epub]
  Adulkar N, Santhi R, Kim U.
  - A unique case of intracorneal aberrant lenticular rest Article View
• Case Rep Ophthalmol Med. 2013; 2013:786378. [Epub]
  Adulkar N, Radhakrishnan S, Vidhya N, Kim U.
  - RPE adenocarcinoma as the presenting sign of bronchogenic carcinoma: Diagnostic dilemma in the management of a case Article View
• Indian J Ophthalmol. 2013 Apr 10. [Epub]
  Shukla D.
  - Management of macular epiretinal membrane by vitrectomy and intravitreal triamcinolone Article View
• Indian J Ophthalmol. 2013 Apr 4. [Epub]  Shukla D.
  - Management of macular epiretinal membrane secondary to accidental globe perforation during retrobulbar anesthesia Article View
• Indian J Ophthalmol. 2013 Apr 3. [Epub]
  Kothari AR, Raman RP, Sharma T, Gupta M, Laxmi G.
  - Is there a correlation between structural alterations and retinal sensitivity in morphological patterns of diabetic macular edema? Article View
• BMC Res Notes. 2013 Mar 18;6:103
  Verma A, Das M, Srinivasan M, Prajna NV, Sundaresan P.
  - Investigation of VSX1 sequence variants in South Indian patients with sporadic cases of keratoconus Article View
• JAMA Ophthalmol. 2013;131(3):310-313
  Kathryn J. Ray, MA; Lalitha Prajna,; Muthiah Srinivasan, MD; Manoharan Geetha,; Rajarathinam Karpagam, DMLT; David Glidden, ; Catherine E. Oldenburg,
  - Fluoroquinolone treatment and susceptibility of isolates from bacterial keratitis Article View
• Journal of Current Diabetes Reports May 2013 [E-pub]
  Kim Ramasamy; Rajiv Raman; Manish Tandon
  - Current state of care for diabetic retinopathy in India Article View
• Ophthalmology 2013;-:1e7
  Rathinam R. Sivakumar, Lalitha Prajna, Lalan Kumar Arya, Praveen Muraly, Jyoti Shukla, Divyasha Saxena, Manmohan Parida
  - Molecular diagnosis and ocular imaging of west nile virus retinitis and neuroretinitis Article View
• Ophthalmic Epidemiology, Early Online, 1–4, 2013
  Catherine E. Oldenburg, Prajna Lalitha, Muthiah Srinivasan, Revathi Rajaraman, Meenakshi Ravindran, Jeena Mascarenhas, Durga S. Borkar, Kathryn J. Ray, Michael E. Zegans, Stephen D. McLeod1, Travis C. Porco1, Thomas M. Lietman1, and Nisha R. Acharya1,
  - Emerging moxifloxacin resistance in pseudomonas aeruginosa keratitis isolates in South India Article View
• GMS Ophthalmology Cases 2013 Vol. 3:Doc03
  Neelam Pawar; R. Ramakrishanan; Devendra Maheshwari; Meenakshi Ravindran
  - Acute abducens nerve palsy as a presenting feature in carotid-cavernous fistula in a 6-year-old girl Article View
• Asian Journal Ophthalmology 2013 / Vol. 13 / E-pub
  Devendra Maheswari, Rengappa Ramakrishnan, Mohideen Abdul Kader, Neelam Pawar, Ankit Gupta
  - Effect of phacoemulsification with intraocular lens implantation in eyes with cataract and functioning filtering blebs

  Dr. Prakash, Associate Professor from CSI dental college handled the session which was organized for the production staff. Different types of dental problems and the ways to take proper care of teeth were elaborated during the session.

 

March - 2013
Hospitals	Madurai	Theni	Tirunelveli	Coimbatore	Pondicherry	Dindigul	Tirupur	Salem	Udumalpet	Total
HOSPITAL OUT-PATIENT VISITS
Paying (New & Review)	41,896	5,982	20,263	27,794	20,767	4,771	3,076	7,553	2,018	134,120
Free (Direct walk-in)	13,111	1,642	6,046	9,538	6,749	5	186	-	953	38,230
OUTREACH OUT PATIENTS
Regular Eye Camps	8,212	1,435	3,698	5,404	5,124	-	-	143	-	24,016
Diabetic Retinopathy camps	37	-	-	582	263	-	-	-	-	882
Refraction Camps	1,647	232	596	1,028	1,237	-	-	-	-	4,740
Mobile Refraction Unit	-	391	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	391
School Screening camps	-	-	1,325	-	-	-	-	-	-	1,325
Paediatric Camps	-	310	-	540	337	-	-	-	-	1,187
Vision Centres	8,627	3,867	5,241	3,141	2,484	-	-	-	-	23,360
Community Eye Clinics	3,115	1,526	1,596	-	-	-	-	-	-	6,237
Total OP Examinations	76,645	15,385	38,765	48,027	36,961	4,776	3,262	7,696	2,971	234,488
SURGERIES
Paying	2,736	321	990	1,403	1,003	140	101	318	95	7,105
Free (Direct)	2,624	220	767	1,401	732	38	142	56	68	6,048
Camp	2,460	224	988	1,481	1,777	-	-	275	-	7,205
Total Surgeries	7,818	765	2,745	4,285	3,512	178	243	649	163	20,358

 

• Dr.C.Mallikharjuna Sarma,Vice Chairman and Mr.K.Narasimha Rao, Trustees from RR Lions Eye Hospital, Palakol were here for two days observation and discussion regarding setting up a new spectacle shop at their hospital. They will be sending two technicians for spectacle dispensing training later this year.
• Mr.Tamer N Makary, the new Executive Director from Al Noor Magrabi Foundation, Egypt visited Aravind for an overview during 1–5 April, 2013.
• Dr. R. Pararajasegaram, Consultant Ophthalmologist was here from April 09th – 17th, 2013 – he was engaged in several discussions including  planning of LAICO’s consultancy work and the upcoming Eyexcel course.
• Prof DVR Seshadri, Adjunct Faculty from IIM, Bangalore and Mr. Mandar Nayak were invited for one-day Visioning Workshop as follow up work for Aravind 2020 goals. They were here from 9-12 April, 2013.
• A team from Lokeswarananda Eye Foundation run by Nanritam from Purulia, West Bengal visited Aravind Eye Hospital to understand the Aravind Model in order to set up Retina Services in their part of the country.
• Mr. Greg and Ms. Susan Jones from San Diego visited Aravind Eye Hospital during the week of April 11-14, 2013.
• Mr. Mark Van Houdenhoven and Mr. Erik Jan Vlieger, Management Consultants from KPMG Plexus were at Aravind from April 14-18, 2013 to get an exposure to Aravind Eye Hospital and to discuss possible collaborations.
• Prof. Ashok Banerjee and Prof. Manju Jaiswall from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta visited during
  April 22-24, 2013 to write a case study on Aravind Eye Care System.
• Mrs. Lakshmi and Mrs. Arani from United Hospital, Hyderabad visited Aravind to understand the aspects of MLOP programme between April 22-24, 2013.
• Mr. Prakash Mirchandani, Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, Mumbai visited Aravind on 24th April, 2013 to get an exposure to develop TCF into a Center for Learning and Excellence in Ophthalmology
• Dr. Kevin Denny, Chief Cataract Surgeon and his son Matt were here at Aravind between April 26–May 02, 2013 to get an exposure of Aravind Eye Care System.
• Mr. Rishi Jain and his colleagues from KPMG, Toronto visited Aravind on 27th April, 2013 to get an overview of Aravind Eye Care System