Date:01/10/2007 Aravind’s eye care system lauded VISIONARY EFFORT: Allen Foster, president, Christian Blind Mission International, Germany (third from left), unveiling the plaque to mark the inauguration of the Aurolab building of Aravind Eye Care System in Madurai on Sunday. From left: G. Srinivasan, president, Aurolab Trust, R. Pararajasegaram, consultant, WHO, P. Namperumalsamy, chairman, Aravind Eye Care System, and Karumuttu T. Kannan, managing director, Thiagarajar Mills, Madurai, look on. MADURAI: The number of visually challenged people in the world now has come down to 37 million from the projected figure of 57 million. The decreasing trend stands testimony to the efforts of eye care systems such as Aravind, said Allen Foster, president, Christoffel-Blindenmission (Christian Blind Mission) International, Germany, here on Sunday. Addressing the gathering at the inauguration of the new building of Aurolab, products division of the Aravind Eye Care System (AECS), he said such an effort was possible because of the vision, intelligence and passion with which AECS went about its job of preventing needless blindness. Providing good quality services at low cost for a high number of cases speak volumes about the efficiency and effectiveness of their eye care delivery system. AECS had transcended technological advancement and ophthalmologic excellence to approach people with honesty, humility and humaneness, as one could feel holiness and an air of spirituality in them, Prof. Allen Foster said. He sympathised with people with other disabilities such as hearing and physical deformity, for they did not have a facility similar to that of AECS to rely upon. Offering felicitations, David Green, U.S. consultant, said Aurolab had a key role to play in catering to the medical needs of people belonging to the low income group by manufacturing and providing low-cost intraocular lens and other ophthalmic materials. Collector S.S. Jawahar said AECS had become synonymous with quality, and the services rendered by them was remarkable. Suzanne S. Gilbert, Director, Centre for Innovation in Eye Care, Seva Foundation, U.S., recalled how a survey in Nepal, which indicated more than half of the population were functionally blind when they shunned the use of thick spectacles after cataract surgery, propelled Dr. G. Venkataswamy, AECS founder, to start an exclusive production unit for manufacture of intraocular lenses at affordable cost. Commending the services rendered to society by AECS, Karumuttu T. Kannan, managing director, Thiagarajar Mills, said Aravind Hospital had etched the name of the city in the world map. It had become a role model for other institutions. Showering accolades on the founder of AECS, R. Pararajasekaran, consultant, World Health Organisation, said at a time when everyone exercised more caution than optimism while considering introduction of intraocular lens (IOL) in developing countries, it was Dr. Venkataswamy’s proactive approach which facilitated introduction of IOL in the country. P. Namperumalsamy, Chairman, AECS, G. Srinivasan, president, Aurolab Trust, P. Balakrishnan, Managing Director, Aurolab, S. Rethinavelu, president, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, took part.