Mr. K.R.V. Prasada Rao, brother-in-law of (late) N.T. Rama Rao, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and his wife Ms. K. Lakshmi Prasad pledged their eyes to Sankara Nethralaya on June 21, 2010.

The eye donation pledge form was received by Chairman Emeritus Dr. S.S.Badrinath. Dr. N. Radhika spoke about corneal blindness on the occasion. Ms. Lakshmi Prasad offered to spread awareness on eye donation among her near and dear ones and will encourage them to pledge their eyes.

The event was coordinated by Mr. N.D.J. Renganath, Trustee, Sri Srinivasa Sankara Nethralaya Trust.

From January this year, the CU Shah Eye Bank at Sankara Nethralaya has received 1800 eye donation pledges.

A special preview of Raavanan, the much-awaited Mani Ratnam flick, was held on June 17, 2010, towards supporting Sankara Nethralaya’s community services.

Reliance Big Pictures, which has co-produced the film, graciously agreed to hold a special preview of Raavanan in Chennai to support Sankara Nethralaya’s vision for mission.

Over 100 donor passes were given to Nethralaya’s well-wishers, who donated generously towards the institution’s corpus fund. The donation amount will be utilized towards providing a free surgery for an indigent patient for the next 12 years.

Sankara Nethralaya is grateful to Mr. BH Kothari for his efforts in making this special screening possible.

The annual Helen Keller Remembrance Day awards saw doctors, hospitals and social service organisations being honoured for their contributions in the field of ophthalmology. The event was held at Sankara Nethralaya on June 3,2010.

This year’s ‘Dr. G Sitalakshmi Gift of Sight Award’ was presented to Dr. Leila Mohan, Comtrust Eye Hospital, Calicut. The award is given to a corneal surgeon who is rendering selfless service in the field of cornea grafting.

The ‘I (Eye) Care Award,’ instituted to recognize eye hospitals which render humane and high quality eye care to the poor and under privileged free of cost, was given to the Lions Club of Karimnagar Charitable Eye Hospital, Karimnagar (Andhra Pradesh), the RR Lions Eye Hospital, Palakol (Andhra Pradesh), the Paediatric Ophthalmology Department, Sankara Nethralaya (Chennai), the Tulsi Rural Development Trust (Chennai), Sankara Nethralaya, Rameswaram.

There were six recipients to The ‘Knight of Blind Award’ including doctors, paramedical staff and social workers.

Chief Guest Lion Dr. Ashok Mehta said the awards would serve as a great source of encouragement for awardees to continue with their outstanding work in healthcare.

Remembering Helen Keller as a role model, Chairman Emeritus, Dr. SS Badrinath urged doctors and students to imbibe qualities of patience and perseverance — traits which helped Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan overcome all adversities. The dignitaries lauded the services of Lion Hari Narayanan in oraganising the function.

Leading Carnatic classical vocalist P. Unnikrishnan performed a series of benefit concerts, in aid of Sankara Nethralaya, in the US in May 2010. Held in San Jose (May 16), Washington DC (May 22) and Atlanta (May 23), the concerts have helped raise close to $30,000. The amount will be used towards Sankara Nethralaya’s community services, including free cataract surgeries for indigent patients.

The concerts were well-received with people coming in large numbers to show their support for Sankara Nethralaya. Close to 1,000 people attended the concerts.

Atlanta Fundraiser For Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust

The SN OM Trust’s unstinting support to Sankara Nethralaya has been acknowledged yet again! The Human Services Committee of the Shiva Vishnu temple at California have awarded the SN OM Trust a grant-in- aid of $1,000 for providing free ophthalmic treatment to poor patients at Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India.

This is the fourth time in a row that the Trust is receiving the grant in recognition for the support it renders to Sankara Nethralaya. The Trust was awarded a similar grant in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Every year, the Shiva Vishnu temple selects a few social service organisations and awards them a grant to support their cause. Varsha Upadhye, SN OM Trustee, California, represented the Trust and received the grant at a function on May 15, 2010.

About SN OM Trust

Sankara Nethralaya Ophthalmic Mission Trust (SN OM Trust), a registered non-profit organization in the United States of America, was established in 1988 with the sole purpose of supporting Sankara Nethralaya, a charitable, not-for-profit ophthalmic hospital, in Chennai, India. Every year SN OM Trust, with the support from society at large, raises funds for Sankara Nethralaya by conducting various events.

Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad, one of the world’s most influential management thinkers and Distinguished Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, passed away on April 16, 2010 in San Diego, US, after a brief illness.

French Mathematician and Philosopher Blaise Pascal had once said, “Man's greatness lies in his power of thought.” And it is this power of thought, which made Prof CK Prahalad stand out from the rest. Whether as a corporate consultant, author or management guru, Prof. Prahalad played a vital role in shaping the growth of numerous companies. He was known to adhere to good corporate governance and ethical standards.

In his untimely death, Sankara Nethralaya has lost a truly remarkable supporter of Nethralaya’s mission for vision.

The Sankara Nethralaya family is indebted to Prof. Prahalad for his unconditional support to the institute. On October 14, 2009, Prof Prahalad very graciously delivered the “New Age of Innovation: Driving Co-Created Value Through Global Networks” management power lecture at Dallas, US, in benefit of Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai. The event was was organized by Sankara Nethralaya, Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust, US, and the Greater Dallas Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (GDIACC).

The lecture, which was attended by senior corporate executives and management professors, helped raise about $ 18000 through which around 278 cataract surgeries were performed, free-of-cost, on indigent patients.

Apart from being the leading cause of preventable blindness, Cataract also adversely affects the livelihood of many — especially the economically weaker sections in society — who are forced to quit their jobs due to poor vision. Prof. Prahalad’s selfless deed has removed the cloud of uncertainty from the lives of many and replaced it with a ray of hope. They say that deeds, not stones, are the true monuments of the great. For the Nethralaya family, the deeds of Prof. Prahalad will forever be etched in the minds and hearts of all at Sankara Nethralaya.

Obituary – GDIACC newsletter

Coming from the little-known city of Seohara in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district, Vimla Mundra brought to Chennai not only her embroidery skills but also her compassionate spirit.

Having been introduced to Sankara Nethralaya by a relative, Ms. Mundra’s initial association with the institute was restricted to spreading word about the hospital’s quality and affordable eye care services among friends and relatives. This small step would pave way for a bigger one in the early 1990s, when she joined SWAN — Sankara Nethralaya Women Auxiliary — as a volunteer. And there has been no looking back since then. Like any other SWAN volunteer, she has helped the institute in various capacities.

“Extremely satisfied” by the time spent at Nethralaya, the people she meets here and the opportunity to serve others, Ms. Mundra and her family recently donated Rs. 5 lakhs towards dedicating a room in the memory of her father-in-law Shri. Shiv Kumar Mundra, and her husband Shri. Sushil Kumar Mundra. This is not the first time the SWAN volunteer, and her family, is donating to Sankara Nethralaya. “The work Nethralaya undertakes is commendable and we consider ourselves fortunate that we are able to help in our small way.”

Nethralaya is deeply grateful for the thoughtful and benevolent gesture from the Mundra family.

Continuing with the Nethralaya philosophy of community service, Sankara Nethralaya, Rameswaram began offering free services to indigent patients from December 1, 2009.

Rededicating the services, at a function on December 7, 2009 at Rameswaram, Mr. TN Hariharan, District Collector, Ramanathapuram, assured all help to Sankara Nethralaya in creating more awareness about ophthalmic care in Rameswaram and surrounding areas.

Welcoming Sankara Nethralaya’s initiative in providing free services at its Rameswaram branch, Ms. Girija Vaidyanathan, Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission, urged for such quality and affordable ophthalmic services to be spread across
the district.

Sankara Nethralaya Chairman Mr. V Vaidyanathan briefed the gathering on Sankara Nethralaya and the various activities undertaken by the institute. He laid emphasis on the institute’s pillars — patient care, community services, research, teaching & training — which has made Sankara Nethralaya one of the leading eye hospitals in the country.

Sankara Nethralaya at Rameswaram commenced its services — paying-cum-free —in 2007. Keeping in mind the local needs, the hospital decided to rededicate its services as purely community based, thereby offering eye care services free-of-cost, from December 2009.

The hospital also proposes to step up its teleophthalmology services in the district, in a phased manner. In the initial phase, along with the assistance of social workers from the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, a team consisting of optometrists and an ophthalmologist will conduct eye camps thrice a week. Surgeries too will be performed thrice a week.

Residents attending the camp will undergo a comprehensive eye examination. Those who are prescribed glasses will be provided with one at the campsite. Patients who are recommended for cataract surgery will be taken by the Sankara Nethralaya team to the the main hospital at Rameswaram where a free-of-cost cataract surgery, using intraocular lens, will be performed on them. The boarding, transport and food for patients will be borne by Sankara Nethralaya, Rameswaram.

Sankara Nethralaya has been awarded the ‘Social Enterprise of the Year’ at the 5th CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards. Dr. SS Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya, accepted the award on behalf of the institute at a glittering ceremony held in New Delhi on December 3, 2009.

The award is presented to an NGO/CSR initiative that has shown uniqueness in the kind of outreach program it has adopted or in adapting a commercial business model for the purpose of social good & community welfare or in the sheer impact its work has had.

Present on the occasion were Kapil Sibal, Honourable Minister for Human Resource Development, Praful Patel, Minister of State-Civil Aviation and Nandan Nilekani, Head, Unique Identification Database project.

The CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards honoured stalwarts of India Inc., who have emerged as legends in business leadership. The India Business Leader Awards are the most distinguished awards for excellence in leadership in Asia.

The winners were judged by eminent personalities like Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC, Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Ltd. Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, Mr. Uday Kotak, and Mr. Raghav Bahl, Founder Editor, Network18.