Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1

Dr. N. Venkatesh Prajna, Chief, Cornea and Refractive Surgery Services, Aravind-Madurai was appointed as Visiting Professor at Wills Eye Hospital. He delivered  lectures as part of the David Paton MD Lectureship in Academic Global Ophthalmology on the following topics:

• Training initiatives: Opportunities and challenges
  Lessons learnt from the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust Programme
• Our work on Fungal keratitis
• Vision Centres- The Aravind experience

Aravind-Dindigul, July 24

Aravind Eye Hospital at Dindigul moved to a spacious facility situated on Thadicombu Road. The new building was inaugurated by Mr.P.S. Velusamy, Chairman, SSM Group, Dindigul in the presence of Prof. Dr.J. Kumar, Vice-chancellor, Madurai Kamaraj University and the senior leadership team and staff of Aravind. The hospital is spread over 46,000 sq.ft and offers cataract services and diagnosis of speciality eye conditions.

Aravind Eye Hospital opened its centre in Dindigul in 2010 in a rented building. As the patient numbers kept growing over the years, space constraints became an issue.The growing number of patients necessitated this new spacious facility which has become a reality now.  The new building offers a pleasant ambience in a spacious environment with ample parking facility.

Aravind-Salem, July 13

Aravind-Salem opened a new vision centre at Konganapuram on July 13. This is the eighth centre for the hospital and the 102nd for Aravind Eye Care System. The centre is sponsored by Seva-Standard Chartered Bank Seeing is Believing project. Ms. Sankari, Plant Head and Vice President – Operations, India Cements, Salem inaugurated the centre in the presence of eminent people in the community. A total of 125 patients were screened on the inaugural day.

Aravind’s 101st Vision Centre of the Aravind Eye Care System was inaugurated at Tisayanvillai on June 27. Aravind Eye Foundation sponsored the centre. Dr. R. Ramakrishnan, Advisor, Aravind-Tirunelveli opened the centre in presence of staff members and well-wishers of AECS. Prominent leaders of the community, Lions and Rotary club members, well-wishers and patrons of Aravind Eye Hospital were present at the inauguration. 81 patients were examined on the inaugural day.

Aravind-Madurai, May – July 2022

Under the aegis of Tamil Nadu State Blindness Control Society & National Health Mission, Govt of Tamil Nadu, Aravind Eye Hospital – Madurai organised Workshops on Sterilisation and Aseptic Techniques for Ophthalmic Operation Theatre to enhance and standardize the process and systems for sterilization and asepsis techniques across the eye departments of the Tamil Nadu Government hospitals. These consisted of two parts: full-fledged, in-depth and hands-on workshops for the Tamil Nadu Government ophthalmic nurses and OT assistants; and a one day CME for the government ophthalmologists and district administrative officers.  A total of 65 nurses attended the workshops held in four batches during May-July 2022 and 41 Doctors attended the one day CME.

The 7 day workshop was a combination of didactic lectures, observation and hands-on training. All aspects of sterilization and aseptic practices and protocols followed in an ophthalmic operation theatre were covered. Participants were given ample opportunity and time for observation and clarification and in some instances, were given hands-on training as well.

Aravind-Salem, July 6

Aravind-Salem organised a motivational lecture by Mrs. Chandrakala, Inspector of Police, Annathanapatti on the topic, Being bold and being safe at workplace.

Aravind-Salem, June 12

Staff members of the seven vision centres of Aravind-Salem were brought together for a half day refresher workshop which was moderated by Dr.B. Manohar Babu and Mr.Mohammed Gowth, virtually. The VC teams worked on action plan for the next 6 months and presented it during the workshop.

Aravind-June 23

Dr. Madhu Shekhar, Chief, Cataract and IOL Services, Aravind-Madurai handled a session on small pupil management at the event hosted by PDTV channel. The session aimed to provide insights on the challenges in surgical management of small pupils, usage of various expansion devices etc.

May turned out to be a month of milestones for Aravind-Salem. On May 9, the hospital performed 240 surgeries, the highest so far for a day.   2,560 cataract surgeries were performed in May 2022, the highest so far for a month. During January to May 2022, the hospital has performed over 10,000 cataract surgeries which is the highest for a period of five months. To celebrate these achievements and to acknowledge staff contribution, the hospital arranged a get-together for the staff members on June 10.

Aravind-Coimbatore, June 27

A clinic dedicated to the care of myopia patients was opened at Aravind Eye Hospital, Coimbatore in collaboration with Zeiss. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, it is the first-of-its-kind facility in Coimbatore and across all Aravind Eye Care System.

The new clinic was inaugurated by Dr.R.D. Ravindran, Chairman, Aravind Eye Care System. Mr.Wilson Thomas, Managing Director – Zeiss; Dr.Jayashree Ashwath, Consultant Paediatrician and Neonatologist, Ayush Child Care Clinic – Coimbatore and Dr.Kezevino Aram, President, Shanthi Ashram, Coimbatore were present at the inauguration. A video on myopia was launched to build awareness on the various customised treatment options to slow down the rate of progression of myopia among paediatric patients.

Aravind-Tirunelveli, June 28

A total of 44 final year B.sc Nursing students of St Luke’s College of Nursing, Nazareth visited Aravind-Tirunelveli in two batches for a three day observation and training.

Aravind-Madurai, July 7

July 7, the memorial day of Dr.V was observed as Mission Day across Aravind Eye Hospitals and Aurolab. The day also coincided with the birthday of Mr. G. Srinivasan, one of the founding members whom the organisation lost last year. Meditation was arranged in Nithyatha to commemorate the occasion. Special programmes and seniors reminiscing about Dr. V and Mr. GS were arranged and teleconferenced to all the centres.