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| Awards & Accolades | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CONGRATULATIONS TO Dr. M.A. SATHIEYA REKHA
Dr. M.A. Sathieya Rekha from Aravind Eye Hospital, Coimbatore has secured the “Dr.G.VENKATASWAMY Gold Medal” in the recently concluded DNB- Ophthalmology exams for the June 2007 session. 
AMRF RESEARCH SCHOLAR MS.J.KANAGAVALLI AWARDED PH.D BY MADURAI KAMARAJ UNIVERSITY
Ms.J.Kanagavalli, Research Scholar from 2002 -2007 worked under the guidance of Dr.P.Sundaresan, Senior Scientist, Department of Genetics, Aravind Medical Research Foundation on “Studies on Myocilin (TIGR/MYOC) gene mutations and myocilin protein in Indian patients with Primary Open Angle Glaucoma”. Now Ms. J.Kanagavalli has been declared to have qualified for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D). 
LAURELS Corner
Department of Agriculture, February 22-24, 2008 Aravind-Puducherry participated in the XXVII Flower, Vegetable and Fruit show, Farm fest-2008, conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Puducherry, and won the First Prize for the Ornamental Garden and Herbal Garden and Second Prize for the Kitchen Garden. Mr. Thanapal, Maintenance Manager, Mr. Devanathan, Garden Supervisor received the award. |
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| Training Programmes & Workshops at Aravind | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TRAINING COURSE ON MOLECULAR GENETIC METHODS IN DIABETIC RETINOPATHY
AMRF, February 4-14 
TIFAC-CORE Training Course on Molecular Genetic Methods in Diabetic Retinopathy was held from February 4-14 at AMRF organised by Dr. G. Venkataswamy Eye Research Institute, Aravind Medical Research Foundation and TIFAC-CORE. The PG students, PhD scholars and faculty members of various colleges and Universities participated in the above training. Dr. VR. Muthukkaruppan, Director-Research, AMRF welcomed the participants. The Inaugural address was given by Dr. P. Namperumalsamy, Chairman and Dr. R. Kim, Co-ordinator, TIFAC-CORE gave a brief introduction on TIFAC-CORE. Dr. P.Sundaresan, Organizing Secretary of the training course, explained in detail about the hands on training Programme and AMRF research scholars taught the molecular techniques to the participants.
During the training course many guest lectures were organized with national and international speakers such as Dr. Dorothea Nitsch, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London; Dr. Daniel Otzen, Aarhus University, Denmark; Dr. G. Kumaramanickavel, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai; Dr. Radha Venkatesan, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Chennai; Dr. Karutha Pandian, Alagappa University, Karaikudi; Dr. K.Dharmalingam, MKU; Dr. S.Krishnasamy, MKU along with Aravind faculties. The Programme ended with the assessment of knowledge gained by the participants during the course and with their feedbacks about the training course. Director-Research Dr. Dr.Muthukaruppan distributed certificates to the participants. PRISM-2008 LAICO, February 9, 2008 
PRISM 2008, a one day National Conference was held at LAICO on February 9. A total of 128 participants including 108 Health and Hospital Management Students who are gearing up to take up the challenging responsibilities of Health Care. Eminent Speakers from various fields threw their insight which could transform HealthCare in the coming years. Dr. Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, IAS, Dr. Vivek Desai, Mr. K Chandrasekar, Mr. T Murali, Mr. S. Annamalai, Mr. Denny John were few of the leading speakers who handled various sessions in the conference. Mr. R. D Thulasiraj,Executive Director, LAICO, Dr. S. Aravind, Administrator, AECS, Mr. Keerti Bhushan Pradhan and Mrs Preeti Pradhan, Senior HR Manager, moderated various sessions.
LOW VISION WORKSHOP FOR SCHOOL TEACHERS
Aravind-Madurai, February 14, 2008 A low vision workshop on Paediatric Eye Disorders was conducted on February 14, 2008, for the resource teachers working in integrated schools and eye health field workers in vision centers. The workshop was conducted under the guidance of Dr.P.Vijayalakshmi, Chief Paediatric Ophthalmologist covered basic aspects of childhood eye disorders, low vision assessment, vision rehabilitation and primary eye care. A total of 100 teachers from eight districts participated in the workshop. WORKSHOP ON “EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND STRESS MANAGEMENT” LAICO, February 16 A workshop on “Effective Communication and Stress Management” for administration coordinators was held at LAICO on February 16. Prof. Sathya Shankar, Vice President, Eagle Software India Private Ltd. was the guest faculty. Prof. Sathya Shankar delivered an inspiring lecture on the importance of effective communication in our daily life and suggested various tips to overcome stress, which might otherwise affect our day to day activities badly. A total of 25 coordinators from various departments attended the workshop. 
3rd BATCH OF TRAINING PROGRAMME ON COMMUNITY BASED REHABILITATION
Aravind-Madurai, February 12-21, 2008 3rd batch Community based Rehabilitation - Module 1 training was held from February 12-21. A total of 18 eye health field workers of Aravind Primary Eye Testing Centres from Madurai, Tirunelveli and Puducherry attended the Programme. Eye health field workers were given training in the following aspects, overview and exposure of Aravind Eye Care system, anatomy of the eye and common eye diseases, magnitude of blindness, vision assessment, counseling, eye health education, eye banking, introduction to CBR, village mapping & survey techniques, administrative guidelines and reporting. 
VALEDICTORY FUNCTION FOR SHORT TERM TRAINEES
Aravind-Madurai, February 29, 2008 Valedictory function for the 2nd batch Short Term training of OT techniques was held at Aravind-Madurai on February 29. A total of 3 participants from Karnataka and Tamilnadu attended the course. Dr. Usha Kim, Paramedical Program Director distributed the certificates to the participants. |
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| Conferences Attended Elsewhere | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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XI SUMATERA OPHTHALMOLOGISTS MEETING
Medan, Indonesia, January 19-20, 2008 Dr. Venkatesh - Course Instructor for Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery. POA MEETING Puducherry, January 27, 2008 Dr. Venkatesh - Spoke on managing cataract and glaucoma. ALL INDIA SOCIETY FOR HUMAN AND ANIMAL MYCOTIC INFECTION Mumbai, February 6, 2008 Dr. Lalitha Prajna - Antifungal susceptibility of Natamycin against Fusarium and A spergillus from corneal ulcers. CHENNAI GLAUCOMA FORUM BIMONTHLY MEETING Hotel GRT, Chennai, February 10, 2008 Dr. Venkatesh - Presented interesting cases in glaucoma. NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON VISION CENTRE COLLABORATION Lumbini Eye Institute, Nepal, February 10-12, 2008 
Mr. Krubanithi, Sr. Librarian from LAICO attended the National Workshop on Resource Centre (i-connect meeting) Collaboration as a Primary Facilitator which was held at Lumbini Eye Institute, Nepal from February 10-12, 2008. The main objective of the Meeting was to “Frame up the Association of Vision Science Librarians for the South Asia Wing”. International Facilitator Catherine Howett described the Seva Concept of Working and its Relationship amongst the Resource Centers and the Librarians. Two days prior to the Workshop “Training on implementation and deployment of the Resources in GSDL (Greenstone Digital Library)” was given to Nepal Hospitals and LVP Librarians by Kirubanithi. Also there was a session on “How to start the Vision Science Libraries in the Developing Nations” and Demo Session on GSDL installation and utilization procedures were given by AECS Participant. Participants visited Tilganga Eye Hospital and the Tri Bhuvan University Central Library to get acquainted with the Library and the Resource Center analyzing their Library and Information Services.
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THE FIRST “KERATOPROSTHESIS” IN ARAVIND
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NEEDS ASSESSMENT VISIT
Cameroon, February 3-14, 2008 Dr. Thirumalaikumar, Dr. N. Sathian, Mr. Meenakshisundaram, Mr. Sanil Joseph and Mr. Suresh Kumar made a needs assessment visit to 6 eye hospitals and an NGO as part of the Right To Sight (RTS) Capacity building project in Cameroon. The LAICO team was accompanied by Ms. Sandrine Jackson, RTS (UK) and Mr. Narayanan H, RTS (India). The team also conducted a 3 day workshop on Enhancing Eye care in Cameroon. Around 30 participants from various eye care programs all over Cameroon attended the workshop. Mr. Keerti Pradhan, Director-Programmes also joined the team for the workshop. 
VISION BUILDING AND STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP
LAICO, February 4-9, 2008 Vision Building and Strategic Planning Workshop was held at LAICO from February 4-9, 2008. A total of 6 participants from Nkhoma Eye Hospital, Nkhoma, Malawi attended the Workshop. 
MANAGEMENT TRAINING FOR EYE CARE PROGRAMME MANAGERS
LAICO, February 11 - 22 A total of 26 participants participated in the Management Training for Eye Care Programme Managers Course. The Participants were from the following places - Voluntary Health Association of Tripura, Tripura - Right to Sight International, Chennai - Sight Savers International, Jodhpur Rajasthan - Sight Savers International, Hooghly, West Bengal - ORBIS International, Dhaka - ORBIS International, New Delhi - Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, New Delhi - Nari Uddug Kendra, Dhaka - ORBIS Taiyuan Office, Kunming, Yunnan Province - Shenyang He Eye Hospital, Shangyang Liaoning Province - He Eye Hospital, Shangyang Liaoning Province - ORBIS International, Ha Noi - The Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital, Selangor - Centro Cristiano de Servicios Humanitarios de Honduras (CCSHH), San Pedro Sula - Seva Foundation, Berkeley - Fundación Cristiana Para La Salud (FUNCRISA), Guayaqui, Ecuador - Right to Sight International, London, UK |
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| Aravind Managed Eye Care Services (AMECS) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SUDHARSHAN NETRALAYA, AMRELI, FEBRUARY 16-18, 2008
Dr.P.Sathyan, Chief Glaucoma Services, Aravind-Coimbatore visited Managed Eye Hospital, Sudharshan Netralaya at Amreli. The purpose of the visit was to streamline the glaucoma department and to standardize the protocols. There he performed 20 surgeries and seen 150 outpatients. |
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| TRAINING PROGRAMMES AT ARAVIND | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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66TH ALL INDIA OPHTHALMOLOGICAL CONFERENCE
Bangalore, 31st January – 3rd February, 2008 
Aurolab participated in the 66th All India Ophthalmological Conference held at Bangalore. A total of 6 stalls were placed at a prime location. Aurolab used the opportunity to introduce a new product “Aurogel” and strongly promoted Aurovue, the Hydrophobic acrylic lens. The Stall attracted good number of delegates and the booth staff comprising of marketing team members, product managers and division heads attended their queries. It was visited by some of our international dealers, customers and prominent doctors from across the country. Aurolab conducted a dealers meet with dinner on the sidelines of the conference. It served as a platform to share and exchange ideas and gain first hand insight into market happenings. Members of the Aurolab team also participated in the Aravind Alumni Meet held on 2nd Feb 2008.
AUDITS 
Aurolab had shifted its operations to the new manufacturing premises at Veerapanchan and commenced production. The new facility audits were conducted by certification bodies. The CE certification audit was conducted on February 04 & 05, 2008 by TUV Rheinland, Germany. The Lead Auditor Mr. Hans Bienert from Germany and Co auditor Mr. Guru Prasad from Bangalore conducted the audit.
Recently intraocular lens has been notified as drugs in India. Hence the facility audit was conducted by Drug Control Department, Chennai on 18/02/2008. Drug Controllers Mrs. Shanthi and Mr. Annamalai conducted the audit. Laboratorio Bergamo is a leading pharmaceutical company in Brazil. They are interested to tie up with Aurolab. Ms. Lucianna visited us from 25/02/08 to 28/02/08 and reviewed all our production processes. The ISO certification audit was conducted from 28/02/08 to 01/03/08 by UL India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore. The lead auditor Mr. Manickam conducted the audit. All audits were completed successfully and the auditors were very much satisfied with our processes. The certificates with revised address and including new products are to be received soon. |
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- Ms. Anita Shah, Editorial Administrative Assistant, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine visited Aravind-Madurai from February 2-5, to understand the Aravind Model and to meet eye care health workers.
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| Patient's Feedback | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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LIFE-ALTERING EXPERIENCE AT ARAVIND EYE HOSPITAL
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Kurinjippadi Primary Eye Testing Centre (Vision Centre) was inaugurated on February 6, 2008. Tamil Nadu Health Minister, Honorable. M.R.K. Panneerselvam inaugurated the Centre in the presence of Mr. Rajendra Ratnu, District Collector, Cuddalore, Dr. N. Raja, Joint Director, Health, Cuddalore, Mr. R. Shanmuga Sundaram, Chairman, Panchayat Union, Kurinjippadi and Mrs. Thaiyal Nayagi, President, Panchayat, Kurinjippadi. Dr. R.D. Ravindran, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Venkatesh, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Dr. Thiruvenkata Krishnan, Medical Officer, welcomed the Guests.
The 5th Hospital Day was celebrated in Aravind-Puducherry on February 21, 2008. Dr. R.D. Ravindran, Joint Director and Chief Medical Officer welcomed the gathering. Dr. Venkatesh, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, presented the Annual Report. Dr. G. Natchiar, Vice Chairman and
Mr. G. Srinivasan, Director - Finance, gave felicitation Addresses and they distributed the service awards to the employees. Dr. R.D. Ravindran got award for completing his 20 years service, and awards were given to the staff who have completed 10 years and 5 years of service. Various cultural programmes including song, classical dance, skit by kids and mimicry added colour to the occasion. Dr. Thriuvenkata Krishnan, Cornea Medical Officer, proposed vote of thanks. Programme came to an end with National Anthem.
A Keratoprosthesis or “artificial” cornea is indicated in cases of corneal blindness for which a conventional keratoplasty (Penetrating Keratoplasty - PKP) has failed (repeated failed grafts) or is likely to carry a poor prognosis (conditions include Steven-Johnson’s Syndrome, Ocular cicatricial pemphigoid, severe chemical burns etc.)
PEGASUS WORKSHOP FOR REFRACTION AND OPTICALS STAFF
The Tamil Nadu Lions Club Sight First Seminar was held on February 9, 2008 at Aravind- Coimbatore. A total of 193 delegates attended the seminar. Talks were given by the doctors about Diabetes (Dr.V.Rajendran consultant diabetalogist RRV, Diabetic Center), Diabetic Retinopathy (Dr.A.Raghuram, Medical Consultant Retina Clinic), Eye Donation (Dr.Siddharthan, Medical Consultant Cornea Clinic), and Pediatric Eye Diseases (Dr.Kalpana Narendran SMO, Paediatric Clinic).
Human Resource Department, Aravind Eye Care System, organised an annual HR Retreat from February 15-16 at Theni. The theme of the retreat was Share, Standardise and Capture. Director – HRD, HR staff, Representatives of MLOPs and Personnel Department staff of Aravind Eye Care System attended the retreat led by Ms. Preethi Pradhan, Sr Manager, HRD. There were a total of 24 participants representing the 5 hospitals as well as the Managed Eye Hospital coming up at Lucknow.
A 3-day Operation Theatre Exhibition was conducted by Aravind-Madurai from 27-29. At the very outset, the beginning and history of development of the Aravind Operation Theatre and the shift from old surgical techniques to newer ones were shown through a picture story.
