1 2 One force shall be your mover and your guide, One light shall be around you and within; Hand in strong hand confront Heaven’s question, life: Challenge the ordeal of the immense disguise. Ascend from Nature to divinity’s heights; Face the high gods, crowned with felicity, Then meet a greater god, thy self beyond Time.” This word was seed of all the thing to be: A hand from some Greatness opened her heart’s locked doors And showed the work for which her strength was born. - “Savitri” by Sri Aurobindo - Book IV, Canto III 1 3 CONTENTS ACTIVITY REPORT APRIL 2012 - MARCH 2013 Highlights 1 Patient Care 7 Education and Training 21 Consultancy and Capacity Building 39 Research 49 Ophthalmic Supplies 57 Central Functions 61 Awards and Accolades 66 Partners in Service 70 Trustees and Staff 72 Photo Credits Mohan, Aravind–Tirunelveli Mike Myers, USA Iruthayaraj, Aravind–Pondicherry Rajkumar, Aravind–Madurai Sasipriya, LAICO–Madurai Senthil Kumar, Aravind–Coimbatore 2 4 6$373Y9R[3J[ All across South India every morning in front of each home, patterns are drawn on the ground with steady streams of white powder (traditionally made from rice flour) released between thumb and forefinger, weaving in continuous curving lines around a pattern of small dots.They are called Kolams and their variations are infinite and fascinating…in many ways they remind us of the beautiful patterns that emerge in our lives merely by connecting-the-dots….for in a finished kolam not a single dot is left un-embraced. Aravind has become a pattern-unto-itself and the ideas, inspirations and individuals who weave in and out of its work for sight continue to create powerful connections. Connecting-these-dots and more in unexpected and elegantly effective ways, Aravind’s guiding mission continues to bring light to hundreds and thousands of people around the world. 3 5 4 6 5 7 “You see, when you talk of service you are thinking of a being that you would like to help, someone who needs your help whether it is sickness or poverty or an accident. Sri Aurobindo says that once you are in that higher consciousness you automatically serve, you don’t have to make an effort. It becomes possible for you to do that, just like a mother does for a child. You see everyone as part of the Divine. You think of everyone as a soul. When you do this, as Ramana Maharishi did, for instance, your love and compassion does not stop with your family or your nation”. Dr. G. Venkataswamy 6 8 H-2012-13 R3ŏCAED Educational Institutions, Tuticorin, Dr.Vijayakumar M.D, This past year will long stand out as a significant National President, Indian Medical Association, New milestone in Aravind’s history. Aravind - Tirunelveli Delhi and Vaanamaamalai Jeer, Nanguneri. completed 25 years and Aravind - Pondicherry,10 years of Aravind - Pondicherry celebrated its decennial service towards eliminating needless blindness. Aravind’s anniversary on February 23. Elaborate programmes were training and consultancy arm, Lions Aravind Institute arranged as part of the celebrations, mainly to improve of Community Ophthalmology completed two decades eye care awareness among the community. of its service, supporting eye hospitals and eye care Dr.T.S.Ravikumar, Director - JIPMER, Pondicherry was programmes globally. invited as guest of honor for the celebrations. At Aravind - Tirunelveli, to mark the occasion, several activities were held throughout the year - a mega eye care exhibition, mega free eye camps, CME programmes for medical practitioners of different specialities and competitions for school children on eye care. The Silver Jubilee Anniversary day observed on February 16 marked the culmination of the year-long celebrations. Shri.T.Karumuthu Kannan, Managing Director, Thiagarajar Mills Ltd., Madurai was the chief guest for the function. Key persons who offered felicitations during the programme included Dr.Perumalsamy, Vice Chancellor, Noorul Islam University, Mr.Ramakrishnan, Founder, Amar Seva Sangam, Ayakudi, Mr.Gunasingh Chelladurai, President, Chamber of Commerce, Tirunelveli, At the inauguration of the Silver Jubilee eye care awareness exhibition at Aravind - Tirunelveli Mr.A.P.C.V.Chockalingam - Secretary, V.O.C Group of Mr. Ramakrishnan offering felicitation at the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Aravind - Tirunelveli 1 9 6@89bN<<>J/< This past year was a year of collective reflection and one that has set the course for the decade ahead - essentially articulating in concrete terms where Aravind Eye Care System aspires to be in the year 2020. This reflective process drew together several hundred people across the entire system. It involved a deep dive into exploring Aravind’s core strengths, calling out untapped opportunities, and clarifying our understanding of Aravind’s essential values and the systems and practices built around them. This shared exercise brought everyone involved to a pivotal realization: Aravind is and always has been traveling on a twin track to eliminate needless Dr. P. Namperumalsamy felicitating District Collector Mr. Ashish blindness. One track is that of direct patient care with a Kumar, IAS at the inaugural ceremony of Aravind - Tuticorin strong community focus. This tireless focus on serving the community has resulted in a service delivery model that in the past year alone handled 3.1 million outpatient global magnitude of need form the basis for Aravind’s visits and performed over 371,000 surgeries and laser ambitious new growth target. The organization aspires procedures - representing an outpatient growth of 9% to perform a million surgeries and laser procedures a and a 7% growth in surgeries over the previous year. The year by the year 2020. It set similar stretch goals for other track is that of sharing Aravind’s best practices empowering and assisting other eye care organizations and systems with the community of eye care providers, to grow in parallel. These goals emerged during an national planners and policy makers. It has involved intensive two-day retreat on January 4 and 5, that was mentoring them through various means, and assisting attended by 60 leaders across the entire organization, them in making the and facilitated by long-term Aravind friend and The organization necessary adaptations volunteer, Professor Fred Munson. to their local settings. aspires to Aravind’s two decades L/)b perform a million of experience in surgeries and engaging with other Over the course of the last year, two new hospitals laser procedures players in the field were added to Aravind’s network in the state of Tamil and helping grow and Nadu, one at Tuticorin on May 5, and the other at a year by the year improve performance Udumalpet on June 10. Both centres will function as 2020. It set similar has built deep reserves satellite hospitals of Aravind Eye Hospital, Tirunelveli and stretch goals for of trust and true Coimbatore respectively. empowering and partnership. These The past year also saw the finalization of assets, alongside the architectural plans for the Aravind Eye Hospital at assisting other eye care organizations Participants of Aravind 2020 retreat to grow in parallel. 2 10 Dr. V.Narendran welcoming the audience at the opening ceremony Dr.Ilango inaugurating the Vedasandur of Aravind - Udumalpet Primary Eye Care Centre Chennai. The design of this 400,000 sq. ft. facility was centres) has led to several new initiatives geared towards expertly led by veteran architect Mr.Gnanaraj with comprehensive services that include the promotion support from a team of volunteer architects from the of sub-speciality services like glaucoma, diabetic United States that included Ms.Christie Coffin, Ms.Sudha retinopathy, low-vision and pediatric ophthalmology. Hajela and Ms.Lakshmi Nair. Prior to the actual design This is a Sightsavers supported initiative. To increase exercise, several eye hospitals across the United States coverage, two new primary eye care centres were and Singapore were visited and several meetings were added, one at Vedasandur on May 17, and the other held in order to define the size and scope of services. The at Devakottai on August 2. Both of these centres are volunteer team spent an entire month at Pondicherry attached to Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai. The network working on the plans which have since been submitted to now has a total of 41 primary eye care centres and covers the planning authorities for approval. a population of approximately 3 million. During the last year, these vision centres collectively handled over @OJBJ6L 275,000 out-patients, averaging almost 1,000 patients and tele-medicine consultations a day. The aspiration The focus on strengthening primary eye care through is to expand this network of primary eye care centres to Aravind’s network of vision centres (primary eye care cover a population of 10 million, by the year 2020. Architects and the Aravind team at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore conceptualizing the plans for the new hospital at Chennai 3 11 E9LG8<9L Aravind’s founder Dr.V always credited the growth and development of Aravind to Divine forces and their guidance. The organization’s journey is studded with serendipitous events. This past year has been no exception. Close on the heels of an internal decision to find ways to work with government institutions to promote eye care, Aravind received a call from the Centre for Innovation in Public Systems (CIPS) requesting assistance in transforming health care in the public sector, and help in achieving world-class quality and efficiency. This call led to a National Workshop on Achieving Excellence in Eye Care Delivery, conducted Dr.R.Kim delivering the welcome address at Telemedicon 12 jointly with CIPS at LAICO on June 16 and 17. The workshop was attended by Union Health Secretary Outreach Management, Optometry and Optical Mr.Desi Raju, Joint Secretary, Ms.Sujaya Krishnan, Dispensing and Achieving Excellence in Operations Mr.Chakrapani, the Director of CIPS and representatives Management.