INAUGURATION OF PERIYANAICKENPALAYAM VISION CENTRE
August 15, 2007
The new vision centre was inaugurated at Periyanaickenpalayam on August 15 by Dr.Narendran,Chief Medical Officer, Aravind-Coimbatore. It is 27 Kms from Coimbatore.14 Outpatients were registered on inaugural day. Aravind has blended information technology innovatively into the center facilitating online (live) consultation for each patient with the Ophthalmologists at the Aravind-Coimbatore. It is a low cost telemedicine approach. This approach which is unique helps patients acquire right treatment advice directly from Ophthalmologists which saves a lot of time and money to the patients. The center charges a nominal fee of Rs.20/- for outpatient visits.


SUN FOUNDATION’S DONATION TO ARAVIND EYE CARE SYSTEM
As a mark of commemorating his father Mr. Murosoli Maran's 73rd birth anniversary, Mr. Kalanidhi Maran, founder of the Sun Foundation has donated Rs.15 lakhs to Aravind Eye Care System for performing 2000 cataract operations for the poor people in the community. To hand over personally the donation, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran, Mrs. Kaviri Kalanidhi Maran and Sun Foundation members visited Aravind.
      A special function was held on August 18, 2007 at LAICO Auditorium for this purpose. Mr. Sanil Joseph, Faculty, rendered invocation song. Dr. M. Srinivasan, Director – AECS, welcomed the gathering. Dr. P. Namperumalsamy, Chairman of AECS, in his special address explained the genesis of eye camp movement and the services being rendered by Aravind. Mr. R. Meenakshisundaram, Senior Manager - Outreach, gave a brief about AECS camp services.
      Following this Mr. Dayanidhi Maran explained about Sun Foundation’s services to the poor people. He announced that the collaboration with Aravind will continue in the forthcoming years also with increased donation for restoring sight to poor people. Mrs. Kaviri Kalanidhi Maran handed over the cheque to Dr. P. Namperumalsamy.
      Mr. G. Srinivasan, President of Govel Trust, presented mementos to Mr. Dayanidhi Maran and Mrs. Kaviri Kalanidhi Maran. The function ended with vote of thanks by Dr. Krishna Das, Chief Medical Officer of Aravind, Madurai.

BOOK OF MANOHAR DEVADOSS RELEASED AT MADURAI
LAICO, August 25
“Multiple Facets of My Madurai” written by the great artist Mr. Manohar Devadoss was formally launched in Madurai on August 25, 2007.The function was held at LAICO auditorium with the participation of VIPs, officials and writers. Aravind Eye Hospitals, Madurai Corporation City Technical Advisory group and Madurai Readers club had organized the function.
      Dr. P.Namperumalsamy, Chairman, Aravind Eye Care System welcomed the gathering. The audience had a dose of enchanting experiences of Manohar Devadoss, as he drew a leaf from his 'Multiple Facets of My Madurai,' a compendium of fine art coupled with realistic representations, to take them down memory lane.
      Mr. Manohar explained how he, an artist, turned into a writer. With a fading vision, caused by retinitis pigmentosa (a degenerative eye condition for which there is no cure) and overwhelming urge to record childhood reminiscences, he has sketched his emotions in 'black and white,' literally though.
      Given his penchant for intricate art work, it became increasingly difficult for him to depict what all he wished to achieve through painting and that led him to writing, which turned out to be quite complementing and refreshing.
      J. Vasanthan, retired English professor of the American College, remembered how Mr. Manohar and his wife Mahema made an ideal and beautiful couple. He wondered whether anyone with tragedy pounding from all corners would ever be as cheerful and whole-hearted as this couple. "Either that person would turn a 'Bible thumper' (read religious) or become an atheist. But not Manohar," he said in appreciation of their resilience.
      Paying glorious tributes, Dr. P. Namperumalsamy, Chairman, Aravind Eye Care System, said that the exponent had in possession the artistic vision to present pictures with details, which many would have missed. He said that Mr. Manohar could not benefit from the Aravind Eye Hospitals but the organisation had benefited from his benevolence. The author announced that the proceeds from the sale of a portion of his paintings would go to Aravind Eye Hospitals.
      The Deputy Commissioner of Madurai Corporation, Mr. A. Ramachandran, released the first copy of the book which was received by Mr. Karumuttu T. Kannan, Chairman, Thiagarajar Mills. Mr. B.T. Bangera, President of Madurai Corporation Technical Advisory Group and Mr. R. Raja Govindasamy, Principal (in charge), Thiagarajar College, also paid tributes to the author.

HEARTFELT THANK’S TO ARAVIND
“Everyone was so very kind and Aravind is truly a program to be proud of, in both excellent eye care and education.
      This visit to Aravind-Madurai was planned for me to observe a new Optometry program and offer my lectures to strengthen their didactic and clinical training. My ulterior motive for the visit was to exchange my teachings for a chance to work and observe in the many specialty clinics within the hospital. I wanted to learn from a lot of ocular disease and see the most obscure cases and management techniques. I wanted to be best prepared for anything that walked through my office door and not confused by seeing it for the first time.
      Looking back over my days, the learning loads in these two areas have been reversed. Where I expected to teach I have learned and where I expected to learn I have been reassured. I have seen a strong and budding optometry training program, requiring only small recommendations from me. There are excellent facilities here and well-trained staff to implement and support. My other surprise was the level and types of diseases are not so much different from ours. Yes, there are plenty of unique cases but as we are taught, ‘Common things happen commonly’. I was also pleased to see the treatments which are on par with most of the USA hospitals.
      So some things don’t change; well-trained staff, well-kept facilities and good clinical education lead to excellent eye care; the eyes are the same the world over.”
- Dr. Jennifer L. Stone, Baltimore MD

SPECIAL ITINERARY FOR SENIOR STAFF OF ARAVIND EYE CARE SYSTEM
Aravind’s service has crossed the oceans and made a mark in far-away lands. The Aravind team that has so far crossed oceans to teach and learn, has for the first time taken a vacation! 21 people who have dedicated themselves to eye care for the past 20 years, embarked on a holiday trip to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lampur on 8 August and returned on 17 August.
      They went to various places like Buddhist Temple, Murugan Temple in Batu Caves, Safari World - Bangkok (Thailand’s greatest open Zoo and leisure park, Golden Buddha Temple-Bangkok, The Dolphin Show, Bangkok, Jurang Bird Park-Singapore, Under water world-Sentosa Island in Singapore, Wax Museum in Singapore, and Singapore National Eye Institute, the Genting Highlands, musical fountain and a dolphin show.

TRIP TO KODAIKANAL
Aravind-Tirunelveli, August 26
A total of 36 MLOPs from Aravind - Tirunelveli went to Kodaikanal on a one day trip. At Kodaikanal they saw Silver cascade, Croker's Walk, Guna caves, Suicide point, Lake, Botanical Garden and also shopping spots. All had a very nice time and enjoyed their trip at Kodai. This trip definitely was a great change from their usual routine and a good opportunity for the MLOPs from different departments to be together.






CONGRATULATIONS TO MS. GOWRI PRIYA
Ms.Gowri Priya Chidambaranathan, Research Scholar from 2002 -2006 has worked under the guidance of Dr.VR.Muthukkaruppan, Director – Research, Aravind Medical Research Foundation on “Aetiology and Pathogenic Mechanism of Uveitis associated with Leptospirosis”. Now Ms.Gowri Priya Chidambaranathan has been declared to have qualified herself for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D).

- Mr. Wg Cdr. Mk Bose and Mr. Madav Chandra Mishra, LEPRA Society, Secunderabad at August 1-4.
- Dr. Prasad Kaipa, Hyderabad was at Aravind-Madurai from August 2-4 to help in developing curriculum for Yogam workshop.
- Mr. Deebti Bajaj, ORBIS, Delhi was at Aravind-Madurai from August 7-11 to take session on “Expectation of funding agency” for project management course participants.

VISITORS TO ARAVIND SCHOOL OF OPTOMETRY
The two volunteers, Dr.Jennifer L.Stone, an optometrist and Mr. Adam Stone, rehabilitation personnel from Maryland, USA were at Aravind-Madurai from July 27-August 9, for offering a voluntary support in optometry and rehabilitation services. During her visit, Dr. Jennifer stone had official meetings with senior doctors in Aravind School of Optometry other faculties in optometry school about the course curriculum and training programmes. Mr. Adam Stone was a resource person for a one day workshop on Vision Rehabilitation conducted by Vision Rehabilitation Centre, Madurai.



VISITORS FROM GOOGLE FOUNDATION
A Team from Google foundation, Mr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director, Ms. Kirsten Olsen and Ms. Ki Mun, Project Managers at Google, Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director at Google, Ms. Sonal Shah were at August 10.







- Mr. Cameron Esslemont, Global Library Services Network (GLSN), Australia, was at Aravind-Madurai from August 20-22 to follow-up on resource center networks.
- Mr. Christober, and Mr. Clement, St Marya Catholic Eye Hospital, Nigeria at August 20-27.
- Dr. Darshak Shah, Director of the Consultant Eye Surgeons Partnership, (UK) Ltd (CESP) was at August 21.
- Mr. A.M. Eyahiya Mujahid, Mr. Sadique Ahmed, and Mr. Mohammad Imrul Hasan Khan, Moulvibazar BNSB Eye Hospital and ORBIS, Bangladesh were at Aravind-Madurai from August 21-25 to get first hand experience on the evolution and sustainability of eye care programs.
- Ms. Margarida Neves De Sousa, Radiotelevisao Portuguesa, Champalimud foundation was at Aravind-Madurai from August 28-31 came to announce the award and to film Aravind in operations.
- Ms. Deepa Gupta, Deputy Director-Finance and Ms. Sophia Tinku, Programme Manager, ORBIS, Delhi were at Aravind-Madurai from August 29-September 1 to do financial review of both POLTC and the ORBIS Eye Care Management Project.
- Professor Graham E Holder, Consultant & Director of Electrophysiologist, Moorfields Eye Hospital, London and Mr. James N. Ver Hoeve, University of Wisconsin, Madison were at Aravind-Madurai from August 30- September 1. The purpose of their visit was to teach and train our doctors and technicians in practical aspects especially recording and interpreting VEP's apart from ERG's.

POVERTY PREVENTED, ARAVIND HELPED A BOY TO GAIN EYE SIGHT
Poverty prevented parents from taking one of their sons for proper eye treatment despite the fact that another son was already suffering from visual impartment.
      It is unusual for Aravind to bring children from eye screening camps to its base hospital for cataract surgery, but Raju was an exception. When he came with his mother to an eye camp held at Sevapet, Salem in May, Dr. Praveen Krishna examined him and found the boy afflicted with absorbing cataract with squint in both eyes. With a visual acuity of 1.5/60 in both eyes, he was hardly able to see beyond half a metre, and was on his way to total blindness.
      At the camp, Raju’s mother said that he had been more or less visually impaired since birth. His father had died when he was only a year old, and, left with five children, his mother was struggling to support the family on the meager wages earned by other family members.
      One of Raju’s brothers also has had defective vision in both eyes since birth. He had been brought to Aravind at age six or seven, but it wasn’t possible to improve his vision by surgery so he was given low vision aids.
      But despite already having a child with poor vision (and even though they had observed white spots in both of his eyes), the family had never thought to have Raju examined by an eye doctor. Evidently he had had bilateral cataracts since birth, a condition which had caused him many minor injuries over time.
      Once, when he was treated for a fractured bone at Salem Government Hospital, the doctors the doctors advised his mother to take him to Aravind. Unfortunately it was not possible for her to take Raju to Madurai. Taking the trip to Madurai meant she would have to be absent from work, resulting lost wages that she could not recover. So Raju never received the vision care he needed.
      However, when Aravind conducted an eye camp in his area, Raju had a stroke of luck. The initial examination confirmed cataract in both eyes, and his mother was counseled to get the boy surgically treated immediately. She agreed.
      Absorbing cataract, with which the boy was afflicted, is a condition in which a part or most part of the lens matter is absorbed, leaving behind a thin lens. Surgery in such cases could be more difficult to perform with higher chances of complications. Dr. Praveen Krishna after discussing the patient’s condition with Dr.P.Vijayalakshmi, performed cataract extraction with I.O.L. implantation along with squint correction on Raju’s right eye. Post-operatively his visual acuity was 3/60. After keeping under observation for two days, he was discharged and scheduled for a follow-up visit. Raju would later be operated on his left and spectacles will be prescribed for him.

- Devi, Paediatric Counsellor, Aravind - Madurai

AUGUST 2007
Hospitals	Madurai	Theni	Tirunelveli	Coimbatore	Puducherry	Managed Eye Hospitals	Total
HOSPITAL OUT-PATIENT VISITS
Paying (New-Review)	34,628	5,946	16,041	22,238	15,039	7,439	101,331
Free (Direct walk-in)	12,493	1,858	5,812	8,036	4,234	2,362	34,795
OUTREACH OUT PATIENTS
Regular Eye Camps	10,353	2,009	3,323	7,353	8,034	5,142	36,214
Diabetic Retinopathy Camps	985	1,090	1,499	4,552	930	-	9,056
Refractive Camps	910	-	810	-	-	620	2,340
School Eye Screening	1,500	-	1,329	1,289	-	573	4,691
Vision Centres	1,260	2,215	839	182	527	-	5,023
Community Eye Clinics	2,913	-	1,996	2,311	-	-	7,220
Total OP Examinations	65,042	13,118	31,649	45,961	28,764	16,136	200,670
BREAK UP OF TOTAL SURGERIES
Paying	4,168	340	1,504	2,148	1,226	471	9,857
Free (including the subsidized camp surgeries)	3,024	340	929	1,686	1,578	1,161	8,718
Camp	2,030	203	745	1,348	585	-	4,911
Total Surgeries	9,222	883	3,178	5,182	3,389	1,632	23,486