September 26-October 4

All centres of Aravind celebrated the Navaratri festival with great enthusiasm. Special golu arrangement was made and prayers were performed on all nine days. Staff invoked Goddess Sarawathi’s blessings on the occasion.

October 1 being the birthday of Dr. V, every year Aravind observes theOctober Summit which includes the Dr. G. Venkataswamy Memorial Award and Oration ceremony and a  series of deliberations towards the betterment of eye care delivery.

Dr. G. Venkataswamy Memorial Oration and Award Ceremony 2022

Aravind Eye Care System presented the Dr. G. Venkataswamy Memorial Award 2022 to Doraiswamy Nagarajan in appreciation of his enduring contributions to eye care and in particular towards capacity building of eye hospitals across the world. The grand ceremony was held at Dr. G. Venkataswamy Eye Research Institute, Aravind Eye Hospital Madurai on October 1, 2022. The function was graced by the presence of the senior leaders of Aravind – Dr. P. Namperumalsamy; Dr.G. Natchiar, Mr. Thulasiraj Ravilla, Dr. R.D. Ravindran and Dr. R. Kim. Mr. Nagarajan delivered the Dr. G. Venkataswamy Memorial Oration on the topic, “Society, Service, Spirituality.”
Mr. Nagarajan is an honorary advisor to many eye care organisations. Trained as an engineer, he started his professional career with the Indian Railways. He was the Regional Director in India for the international charity, Sightsavers International for more than a decade and has been serving on the board of directors of Seva Foundation, USA for more than two decades. He took ardent efforts to mentor eye hospitals across the world to build sustainable eye care programmes. His prudence and wisdom have guided thousands of eye care professionals in their fight against blindness.

October 8 

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a huge role in many aspects of our lives, including healthcare. Aravind has been exploring the possibilities of adopting AI for improving eye care and has made some progress in the screening of diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity. The introduction of eyeNotes (electronic medical record system) enabled it to capture more accurate patient information and make them available in a timely manner. The workshop was organised to brainstorm how AI can be leveraged on the clinical and nonclinical areas of patient care with a view to enhance overall performance. A total of 22 staff members from various Aravind centres took part. Senior consultants from iMerit – Dr. Jaideep Jesson Rayapudi and Vibhor Goel handled the various sessions.  

October 12-13

Advancements in science and technology and ever-increasing expectations of patients create extensive opportunities for eye care providers to continuously improve their systems and processes. In the process, they face several operational challenges which can be addressed through a scientific approach. There are many tried and tested scientific methods that will help hospital teams build systems and processes to ensure an efficient care delivery model. The workshop organised as part of October Summit introduced improvement methodologies and tools that hospitals would find useful to address operational problems and bring improvements in care delivery. A total of 28 participants from 17 hospitals in India and Africa took part.

October 17-20

The workshop was organized for the managers and senior MLOPs across all branches of Aravind Eye Hospital. 63 staff members took part.  The workshop started with a performance update by the individual hospital teams. The workshops covered topics such as retaining Aravind’s work culture, managing quality, patient care management, monitoring, materials management, insurance facilitation and how to become an effective manager. Group discussion was held on common issues such as hospital-acquired infections, patient safety and arrival patterns. An exhibition of the calendars of various departments, proud moments of Aravind and various innovations was also arranged.

Aravind –Pondicherry, October 14-16

The 48 hour writathon was organised at Aravind-Pondicherry for its doctors. A total of 32 doctors took part. Dr. S. Kavitha, Chief, Glaucoma Services, Aravind-Pondicherry inaugurated the event. Dr. R. Venkatesh, Chief Medical Officer, Aravind-Pondicherry encouraged the participants to make use of the available facilities and time effectively. Mrs. Kumaragurupari, Librarian and Mr. Jerrome Selvaraj, Research Associate from Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai were invited to observe this interesting event. They interacted with the participants and helped them with references, reference manager tools and tips to write a good manuscript. Nine submissions were made at the end of the event.

Aravind –Pondicherry, October 8

Aravind Eye Hospital, Pondicherry conducted flanged SFIOL skill transfer course with 3D live video surgery. A total of 20 medical officers from the departments of Cataract and IOL Services across Aravind Eye Hospitals took part. Dr. N. Venkatesh Prajna, Chief, Cornea Services, Aravind-Madurai and Dr. R. Venkatesh inaugurated the workshop.  Dr. V.R. Vivekanandan described and demonstrated the novel technique with 3D live video surgery.  Wet lab practice and hands-on sessions were also arranged followed by postoperative evaluation and management.

Aravind –Pondicherry, October 19

Newly joined allied ophthalmic personnel celebrated their Freshers’ day with a variety of cultural programmes including dance and skit. Dr. R. Venkatesh, Chief Medical Officer and K. Veena, Chief of Paediatric Ophthalmology Clinic, other doctors and MLOPs attended the function.

Aravind – Coimbatore, August 15

Dr. Kalpana Narendran was the chief guest for the Freshers’ Day at Aravind-Coimbatore. Cultural programmes like dance, poetry, and drama were staged. A few shared their experiences at Aravind during the first two months of training. The team’s performance on mother’s love was well appreciated by all.

At the World Sight Day programme organised by Lions Club International, Thiruvananthapuram Dt:318A, A. Hemachandran, Camp Organiser, Aravind-Tirunelveli was honored in appreciation of the role played by  the hospital to provide eye care for the people in Kerala.

Aravind – Coimbatore, October 20

Amblyopia is one of the leading causes of treatable vision loss in children and adults. Newer binocular therapeutic approaches are rapidly emerging. The department of Paediatric Ophthalmology at Aravind-Coimbatore felt the imminent need to establish an exclusive clinic to give the attention it requires. In association with BYNOCS Pvt ltd, the unit opened an exclusive amblyopia clinic and this was inaugurated by Dr. V. Narendran, Chief Medical Officer, Aravind-Coimbatore.  The clinic aims to treat amblyopia in children and adults and diagnose and treat binocular vision disorders.

Aravind – Chennai, October 15

Aravind Eye Hospital, Chennai conducted its first Sponsors’ Day to recognise the community’s support to eliminate needless blindness.  182 sponsors took part in the event. Prof. M. Ramachandran, famous Tamil scholar and speaker was the chief guest who motivated the  audience with his inspiring talk. Dr. P. Namperumalsamy, Chairman Emeritus, Aravind Eye Care System and Dr. G. Natchiar, Director Emeritus graced the occasion with their presence.

Aravind – Chennai, October 15

Aravind Eye Hospital, Chennai celebrated its 5th Hospital Day. The theme for the celebration was designated as “Panchabhootha – the five elements of the universe”. Dr. Aravind S, Chief Medical Officer, Aravind-Chennai and Director Projects, AECS welcomed the gathering. Dr. Neethu Mohan, Chief of Glaucoma Services, presented the Annual report for the year 2021-2022. Dr. P. Namperumalsamy addressed the gathering with his motivating words. Chief guest, Dr. T. K. Parthasarathy, Director – International Relations, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, gave a special address. Service Awards were distributed to staff for completing of 5years and 20 years of service. Cultural programmes staged by staff and their children added colour to the entire event.

Aravind-Salem, October 10

Aravind-Salem performed 322 cataract surgeries through camps, the highest so far for a day. This was possible because of the whole-hearted commitment and dedication of the entire team. A special meeting was organised to felicitate the staff members for achieving this unique feat.

Aravind – Madurai, October 1

Myopia is one of the leading causes of vision impairment in children and  is increasing rapidly across the country. By 2050, 50% of the world’s population is expected to be myopic. In the recent past, there has been a lot of research in this field. As an extension of Paediatric Ophthalmology Clinic, Aravind-Madurai opened a dedicated clinic to address the problem of myopia in children. . The clinic aims at providing them with the latest interventions, improving awareness on prevention of myopia progression and early identification. Dr. P. Namperumalsamy inaugurated the clinic. The clinic is furnished with state of the art investigations and specialised lenses, medications to control myopia progression at an affordable cost.

Aravind – Chennai, September 30

Aravind -Chennai conducted various extra-curricular competitions like singing, stand-up comedy and poetry writing for allied ophthalmic personnel. A total of 25 MLOPs took part. Dr. Usha Raghavan, Project Consultant and Dr. Bina Anna Varghese, Medical Consultant, Aravind-Chennai were invited as judges. Winners were given prizes.