Aravind-Coimbatore, April 1

Aravind Eye Hospital along with Shanti Ashram, Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) and Young Indians (Yi) Coimbatore organised a programme to observe World Health Day on 2nd April 2022. Dr.G.S.Sameeran, I.A.S, District Collector- Coimbatore was the chief guest. Dr.Kalpana Narendran welcomed the gathering and insisted on the importance of early eye screening for children to prevent needless blindness. Dr.Kezevino Aram, President, Shanti Ashram, in her special address highlighted the health status of children in India. Dr.S.R.Subramanian, Head, Sustainable Development Programme, Shanti Ashram & Ms.Monica Christina, Community Development Organizer, Shanti Ashram gave a presentation on Governance Impact on Nutritional Security of Rural Children by the District Administration & COVID 19 Research & Response Desk. Coimbatore district collector, Dr.G.S.Sameeran launched two joint initiatives with ICPH for children’s health and wellbeing: 1. Eliminating childhood blindness in Coimbatore: Training, screening, evaluation & management led by Aravind Eye Hospital and 2. Masoom: Keep children safe led by Young Indians (Yi) Coimbatore.

Aravind-Coimbatore, April 4

In an effort to inculcate a culture of research and to encourage doctors and scientists to do it meaningfully, Aravind decided to open a regional research centre in each of its tertiary hospitals. As a first step, Dr. P. Namperumalsamy, Chairman-Emeritus, Aravind Eye Care System opened a research centre at Aravind-Coimbatore. The hospital has initiated four projects and plans to extend its research activities to become a self-sustained research wing.

Aravind-Coimbatore, April 10

Aravind-Coimbatore organised a virtual meet of the alumni of Cornea departments across Aravind Eye Hospitals. 88 alumni took part.

 Aravind – Madurai, April 20 -28, 2022

To create awareness on eye diseases amongst the rural community, Vadipatti vision centre organised two free eye examination programmes at Poochampatti village. The first one was organised in collaboration with of HelpAge, mobile medical services on April 20. A total of 58 people underwent eye screening. Among those, 22 people had eye problems and were referred to Vadipatti Vision centre.
The second programme was organised on April 24 in association with Kasthurba Gandhi Hospital. A total of 55 people underwent eye screening. Among those, 12 people had eye problems and were referred to Vadipatti Vision centre for counselling. Four underwent cataract surgery.
Vadipatti vision conducted school children eye screening programme at Charles Matriculation School, Vadipatti on April 28. A total of 300 students underwent eye screening. Among those 52 were identified with refractive errors and referred to Vadipatti vision centre.

April 25, 2022

Mr. Seran, Manager-Patient care, Aravind-Salem delivered a talk on Lateral thinking at the  Alumni 2022 Lecture organised by Dr. N.G.P Arts and Science College, Coimbatore.

April 27, Aravind-Salem

Aravind Eye Hospital, Salem, conducted this interprofessional webinar which was attended by ophthalmologists, engineers and allied healthcare workers. A total of 104 persons took part.  The webinar had interactive sessions covering topics, scope of smartphone applications in ophthalmology, designing of applications, Aravind’s experience in using apps and artificial intelligence in apps. From Aravind- Salem, Dr. Manohar Babu, Chief Medical Officer, Dr.Lokeshwari. A, Consultant, Cornea and Refractive Services and Dr.Saranya, Comprehensive Ophthalmology Fellow handled the sessions. Dr.Shanthi S, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Prof. Kavitha N.S, Department Electronic and Communication from Kongu Engineering College, Erode shared their inputs.

Aravind – Salem, April 22

Prof. Kannan, Aliyar Arivuthirukovil was invited to give a motivational talk to all staff members. It was a highly interesting and thought-provoking session.

Aravind-Madurai, May 13 

Aravind Eye Care System and Novartis have been working together for mutual development and to share inspiration and practices in leadership, culture transformation and talent management. The teams work together on six work-streams focusing on different areas of growth. As part of this, a team from Novartis – Sunil Modali, Denise LeClair, Muthusamy VS, Anil kumar Sistla visited Aravind to participate in a workshop related to the data generation work stream.

Aravind – Madurai, May 3, 2022

Postgraduate residents of Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai and Rotary club of Madurai Midtown organised a special event to honour and appreciate the selfless service of the staff of Madurai Anjali gasifier crematorium, Keerathurai during the Covid days. Dr. N. Venkatesh Prajna, Secretary, GOVEL trust and Mr. Mathan, Chairman, Anjali Foundation appreciated the staff.  Mr. S. Venkatesan, Member of Parliament – Madurai; Dr.J. Sangumani, Dean, Virudhunagar Medical College; senior members of Aravind – Dr. P. Namperumalsamy; Dr. G. Natchiar; Dr. R.Kim were present at the meeting. LIC policies and gold coins were gifted to the family members of the crematorium staff.

May 12

On the occasion of International Nurses Day, Aravind Eye Hospitals organised programmes to recognize the efforts of allied ophthalmic personnel and to keep their spirits high. Doctors and other staff joined the celebration. Sweets were distributed to share the joy of the occasion.

May 21

On the occasion of Retinoblastoma Awareness Week 2022 observed from May 8-14, Aravind Eye Hospital, Coimbatore and Madurai organised special programmes on May 14 and 21 respectively. Retinoblastoma patients with their families were invited to the special celebration. A total of 122 retinoblastoma survivors (with 284 attenders) registered and all were examined thoroughly by Dr. Parag Shah, Dr. Abhishek, Dr. Prema and Dr. Puja in the department of Paediatric Retina and Dr. Divya from the Department of Orbit. Dr. Vanniarajan explained about the importance of genetic tests; Dr. Kavitha, from Orbit Department explained in detail about customized prosthetic fitting.

Dr. Pranesh and Dr. Prithivi entertained the audience  through games and a magic show. Refraction was performed  and glasses were given. Motivational cards designed by Aravind nurses with the help of Ms. Rajakumari were  given to all survivors to keep up their spirits and celebrate their conquest.

An interactive session was also arranged for parents which provided an opportunity for them to share their experiences of their child going through the disease.

At Aravind – Madurai, the survivors’ meet was arranged at Nithyatha. 88 children and their families took part. Senior leaders of Aravind took part in the celebration

Aravind – Madurai, May 16 – 21

Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai organised summer camp for the children of staff members of the hospital, AMRF and Aurolab. A total of 50 children from the age group 8-14 took part. The camp was arranged in Nithyatha and so, most of the activities and sessions were held outdoors. Tree walk, farm visit, swimming, smart cooking, storytelling, drawing/craft sessions and edusports were the highlights. Other sessions included introduction to archaeology, and conservation of nature.

Aravind –Coimbatore, May 20

First year trainees arranged the workshop under the guidance of senior MLOPs of Refraction Department. The following topics were covered in the workshop – hand washing, dilatation, visual acuity and interpupillary distance measurement, autorefractometer and muscle balance. Models of equipment and instruments used in refraction, and cubical arrangement were displayed. Ophthalmologists – Dr. Jayanthy and Dr. Balasaraswathy evaluated the trainees’ performance and selected the best three. The entire exercise has helped the first year trainees to gain knowledge of refraction and the various steps involved therein.

Denver, Colorado, May 1-4

Neuro-Ophthalmology & Retina Departments of Aravind – Coimbatore, in collaboration with Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, Tennessee) presented a poster titled, Assessing vessel density variability in OCT A scans as a means of differentiating papilledema from pseudopapilledema.

AMRF, May 12

Dr.Beth Mills, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, Translational Healthcare Technologies Group, Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK visited AMRF and gave a lecture on  Diagnosis of Infection: Utilising Optical Molecular Smart Probes from the Lung to the Cornea.

AMRF, May 16

Ms. A.Divya, Department of Proteomics defended her PhD thesis titled Interaction of Pathogenic Fungi with Human Corneal Epithelial cells. She carried out her studies under the guidance of Prof.K.Dharmalingam, Director-Research.