People from Tuticorin constitute a great pool of patient load at Aravind - Tirunelveli and to cater to the growing eye care needs of the patients of this area this Aravind opened its secondary eye care centre at Tuticorin. Manned by Aravind - Tirunelveli, the centre offers services in the treatment of cataract, refractive errors and glaucoma. The services will be expanded further to include a wide array of speciality eye diseases. The hospital also has an exclusive free section, where treatment is provided free or at steeply subsidised rate

Aravind's new hospital was inaugurated at Tuticorin by Mr. Ashish Kumar IAS, District Collector in the presence of Dr. R. Perumalsamy, Information Commissioner, RTI, Government of Tamilnadu. Ms. S. Madhumathi IAS, Commissioner, Tuticorin Corporation lighted the holy lamp. Felicitations were offered by various community leaders and officials from Rotary and Lions Clubs.The function was graced by the presence of senior leaders and many well wishers of Aravind.

Dr. M. Srinivasan was awarded Distinguished Service Award by the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field of ophthalmology. The award was presented at the 27th APAO Congress – A joint meeting with the European Society of Ophthalmology and in conjunction with the 106th Congress of Korean Ophthalmological Society at Busan, Korea from April 13 – 16. He also presented the following papers at the conference:

1. Improving outcome in non phaco cataract surgery:Incision construction; astigmatism control ; complications.
2. Improving outcome in non phaco cataract surgery:Logistics of safe high volume surgery

A total of 11 kids graduated from the Janakiamma Child Care Center, Aravind – Madurai. There were interesting cultural performances by the kids which included group dance and rhymes recital. Mr. G. Srinivasan, Dr. M. Srinivasan, Dr. Manju R Pillai and Dr. George V Puthuran distributed the certificates, and school kit to the kids.

Aurolab
Ms.Kannamma Ravindran and Ms.Haripriya Aarvind were invited as chief guests for the function held at Aurolab. Variety entertainments by the kids included dance, song and fancy dress. The graduation day certificates were distributed by the Managing Director Dr. P. Balakrishnan. The others prizes were distributed by the chief guests to the other crèche kids. The programme came to an end with high tea.

The annual national conference on healthcare management conducted by LAICO elicited wide response as around 150 participants from different parts of India took part in the conference. This two - day conference was held during the second week of March and the audience mainly constituted healthcare management students from different colleges. Apart from the Aravind team, Dr Annabel D’ Souza Sekar, Faculty – Institute of Health Management Research (IHMR); Dr. A.Malathi, Head, Medical Services Compliance & Education, Manipal Hospital ,Bangalore; Dr. Nirmal Fredrick, Managing Director, Nirmal Eye Hospital, Chennai; Dr. Umesh Gupta, Founder & Principal Consultant, Delphi Healthcare Research, Delhi; Dr Jawahar, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical science and technology, Trivandrum; Mr. Shantanu Ghosh, Professor of Marketing and Dean at South state Business School and Consultant Social Media Advisor, Hyderabad; Dr. R.R Sudhir, Consultant In Charge, EMR, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai and Dr. Vijayarajan, Clinics-Healthcare IT consulting, Bangalore constituted the faculty list. Poster and paper presentation contests were also arranged as part of the conference and the winners were given cash awards and mementos.

A team of seven senior management officials from Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Alexandra Health, Singapore visited Aravind - Madurai during February 19 - 25 to learn about Aravind's business model, use of technology to reach the population and its training and staff welfare activities. The team got an opportunity to interact with the senior leadership team at Aravind. They also had discussions with the outreach team on the various strategies involved in Aravind outreach. The meeting with the HR department focused on the recruitment policies and the various employee welfare programmes. They also had interactions with the IT department on the importance and use of MIS in eye care. The team also visited Aravind - Coimbatore and Tirupur and also one outreach camp.

Mr. G. Srinivasan, Secretary – GOVEL Trust and Director – Finance, AECS was conferred the Visveswaraya Eminent Engineer Award in recognition of his dedicated leadership and services to civil engineering and society by the Association of Consulting Civil Engineers (India), Madurai centre. The award was presented by Additional Chief Secretary R. Balakrishnan at a function held at Hotel Sangam. This award is instituted in memory of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya who was a notable Indian engineer responsible for the construction of Krishnarajasagara dam in Mysore.

Recently Mr. Srinivasan was also felicitated and honoured by the Indian Overseas Bank on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the bank held at Chennai on January 6, 2012. Shri. Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister, Govt. of India presented the memento on behalf of Indian Overseas Bank. Indian Overseas Bank has always extended active support in Aravind’s mission of eliminating needless blindness and almost all the Aravind Hospitals have IOB branches right from the very inception of the hospital.

LAICO was literally vibrant hosting an exciting multi-cultural exchange programme staged by the participants of the Programme Managers’ Course on the evening of February 3, 2012. The participants included a mixed ethnic group, hailing from 18 different countries and each group presented their country’s unique tradition. The Nepali participants kick started the gala evening with their traditional folk song. It was a novel interactive session for the audience when the Australian team introduced their indigenous slang, for which the audience were asked to guess the meaning. The Chinese made use of the opportunity to share their traditional song and also the secret of Chinese tea. The Vietnamese, in their traditional attire soothed the ears of the audience with a song. A live demo of Vietnamese tea preparation and its distribution was the highlight of their programme. They did not forget to promote their tea by presenting a sachet of tea powder to each one among the audience. The native Ethiopian dance conducted as part of the epiphany celebrations performed by a participant was really mind – blowing. Participants from other countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, South Africa, Cambodia, Cameroon and Switzerland shared the rich tradition of their country through videos and some cultural performances. The India group sang the popular national integration song “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara” with the music track while playing the original video on the screen. The performances ended up with a Zambian song for which the entire audience danced along. Altogether, the whole evening was a perfect blend of different cultures and it gave one the feeling that all world was brought under one roof.

The Programme Managers Course underway at LAICO has registered a record participation of 53 participants from 18 countries across the globe. The two week course provides insights to different aspects of eye care management and its effective delivery. A cultural performance by the participants is arranged at the end of the first week to add flavor to the whole programme.

Madurai, January 29
It was a proud moment for Aravind Eye Care System when the book “Infinite Vision – How Aravind Became the World’s Best Business Case for Compassion” was released at a spectacular function held at the institute. Mr U. Sagayam IAS, District Collector, Madurai presented the first copy to Mr. P. Kannappan IPS, Police Commissioner, Madurai city. Collector Mr. Sagayam, while offering his felicitations acknowledged the yeomen service rendered by Aravind and its far reaching fame as the best eye care provider. He stressed that the Aravind model can be emulated not only by businesses but also the government administration can learn a lot from this. He further reiterated the compassionate services rendered by the institute. Police Commissioner Mr. Kannappan congratulated the invaluable service of the organization for the betterment of the society without expecting any reward or fame. Mr. Lakshmi Kanthan Bharati, former Madurai collector and a staunch Gandhian remembered the tedious journey undertook by Dr. Venkataswamy, battling the heavy odds in providing sight to millions. He also reminisced the life of Dr. Vas more of a spiritual journey. Mr. Raja Govindasamy, Director – Mannar Tirumalai Naicker College, Madurai spoke about the illustrious Aravind family and its services that are branching out as a banyan tree. Ms. Pavitra, one of the authors went down the memory lane – detailing her association with Dr. V and their daily meetings. She also shared with the audience the story of archiving Aravind over the years and acknowledged the invaluable support offered by Ms. Suchitra Shenoy in bringing out this wonderful book. Ms. Shanti Mohan, one of Madurai’s finest educators and Ms. Pavitra’s school teacher read a few relevant passages from the book.

January 25, Chennai

The Indian edition of “Infinite Vision” was released at Chennai at a grand function organized by Landmark and Harper Collins India. The authors Pavitra Mehta and Suchitra Shenoy mesmerized the audience with their firsthand narration of their six year experience of working on the book. Mr. Pradipta K. Mohapatra, a long – term associate of Aravind and Chairman, Executive Coaching Foundation of India pointed out the real secret behind the Aravind success. Brand consultant Harish Bijoor describes the Aravind model as a classic case of socially sustainable marketing.