The ‘Temple of the eye’
takes a giant step in its journey of ‘Service to Mankind’
The
23rd of April 2018 was a ‘Red Letter Day’ for an institution that came into
existence with one simple objective ‘Serving mankind and
alleviating suffering of the masses through quality eye care’ it was
the day the institution made an auspicious and blessed step towards fulfilling a long time dream, a most cherished
dream and also a very ambitious dream. The institution started on the principle
of serving eye care totally cost free and with a personal touch to
poor patients, had over the 4 decades of its servicereached a position of pride wherein it treated 50% of its out patients and performed 35% of its surgeries totally cost free, its cost free eye care
initiatives had also recorded magnificent outreach, with quality eye care being dispensed to poor patients in inaccessible,
remote regions like the deep interiors of the Sunderbans in West Bengal,
Vellimalai Hills in Tamil Nadu and more recently in the tribal regions of
Singhbum in the State of Jharkand. Building and operating a large, well
equipped and easily accessible community hospital, dedicated exclusively to
cost free treatment to indigent patients remained a collective dream of the
institution. The idea was to have a State of the Art facility which would cater
to a large number of walk-in patients, serve as a referral base hospital to
patients screened at the outdoor camps, where they could be brought provided
boarding, lodging and free treatment, a place where the institution’s community
outreach vehicle including the MESU (MOBILE EYE SURGICAL
UNIT) could be parked between their trips.
The
biggest and first challenge in starting such a large facility, the availability
of a large tract of land, in an accessible part of the city was solved when in
a most generous and thoughtful gesture Mrs Kausalya Appukutty, Volunteer-
Sankara Nethralaya Auxiliary Services (SWAN) made available the same totally
cost free at the Dr VG. Appukutty Campus, named in honour of her late husband
and generous supporter of Sankara Nethralaya, from where the CU Shah Sankara
Nethralaya and the Elite School of Optometry function. The Bhumi puja for the
facility was held with traditional piety with the chanting of mantras, vedic
hymns and Homam at the proposed site, in the presence of a large number of
friends, well wishers and employees. Srimathi Anuradha Narayan, lecturer at the
ESO extended a warm welcome to the attendees and expressed the institution’s deep
gratitude to Ms Voltas, Ms Infosys, Ms Trent Ltd, the Rahm Sitaraman family,
USA and long time friend and supporter Shri Iravatham Mahadevan for their
generous donation which would serve as the critical ‘Seed’ capital for the new
initiative. Speaking on the occasion Col Raghavan, Director-Projects and chief
architect of the initiative observed that the institution was able to
embark on a ‘not for profit’ facility with such a high capital outlay only
because corporate houses and individual donors open their purses
generously when Dr SS.Badrinath the institution’s founder makes an appeal for
support.
In a moment that captured the spirit
of the day, special guest of the event Shri Iravatham Mahadevan expressed that
if only he had been 10 years younger he would have visited every home in the
locality to mobilize funds for the noble endeavour, the fact that the
octogenarian had already made an appeal to the families in his apartment
complex became apparent when a co-resident from the complex expressed that every
family in the complex would donate towards this noble cause. This was followed
by presenting of donation cheques by Srimathi Surekha Mehta, on behalf of SWAN
and by Mr Sanjay who operates the staff canteen at the VG Appukutty campus.
Greeting
the gathering on the occasion well known Litterateur and Editor of popular
Tamil magazine ‘Amudhasurabhi’ Shri Thirupur Krishnan, a friend and well wisher
recalled the glorious days when he served under Shri Iravatham Mahadevan, a
highly principled civil servant, he observed that as a hospital which would be
serving the masses it would only be appropriate that it is funded by donations
from the common man, he drew a parallel of the same by narrating how Swami
Vivekaanda wanted his trip to the World Congress of Religions in Chicago, to be
funded by small donations from the common man and not by a few wealthy donors,
as he was representing the entire nation.
Speakng
on the occasion Dr SS.Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus and Founder, Sankara
Nethralaya expressed his thanks to all who had assembled and the team working
on the project, he had a special word of thanks to Srimathi Kausalya Appukutty,
member SWAN for making available the land, without which the project could not
have been envisaged. He welcomed and expressed his thanks to special guests
Shri Iravatham Mahadevan and Brigadier VS.Joon, Station Commander and President
Cantonment Board, for his critical role in obtaining the necessary sanctions
and permits for the proposed building, from the Army authorities.
Ref : http://omlog.org/2018/04/the-%E2%80%98temple-of-the-eye%E2%80%99-takes-a-giant-step-in-its-journey-of-%E2%80%98service-to-mankind%E2%80%99.html
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Mahalingam A, Managing Director, TwinTech Academy Business Management
Solutions, Chennai , Mobile : 9710485295 / mahali@mahali.in /
www.chennaitwintech.com / www.mahali.in
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