Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Award for Aravind Eye Hospital

Staff Reporter

File Photo

Mission with vision: A view of Aravind Hospital in Madurai. —

MADURAI: Aravind Eye Care System, a Madurai-based eye care provider that has ophthalmologic hospitals across the State, has been honoured with ‘Antonio Champalimaud Vision’ Award. Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, its chairman, P. Namperumalsamy, said, “The prestigious award is a recognition of our work.”

Instituted by the Portuguese Champalimaud Foundation, the award was launched by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam October last and comprises a cash prize of Euro one million (approximately Rs. 5.5 crore).

A statement from the hospital quoted the president of the jury, Alfred Sommers, as having stated: “Aravind was driven (not only) to inspire and share, but also to innovate and stimulate. It brought a rigorous systems approach to identifying and overcoming the obstacles to cataract surgery.”

The jury consists of eminent personalities such as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and the first woman President of Ireland, Mary Robinson. The hospital was chosen out of 34 applications across five continents. A team from the hospital will leave for Portugal and receive the award at its capital Lisbon on September 7.

Dr. Namperumalsamy said that the hospital projected its community programmes, surgeries performed at affordable costs and their processing systems. “We are the first recipient of this eye care system award, whose cash component is more than that of the Nobel Prize. This also goes to our work towards Vision 2020,” he said.

Elaborating about Vision 2020, Director, Information Technology and Systems, R.D. Thulasiraj, said that it was launched in 1999 by World Health Organisation and major eye hospitals to eliminate avoidable blindness. “Cataract accounts for more than 60 per cent (of blindness). Another 10 to 12 per cent of blindness could be cured by simply wearing spectacles,” he said. The hospital was working with the Union Government in this regard.

Aravind performed more than 2,72,000 surgeries last year of which more than 1,72,000 were cataract related. Dr. Namperumalsamy said that while in western countries, cataract occurred after 70 years of age, in India it occurred by 45 years itself. “The reasons, which could be genetic or climatic, are currently under research,” he said.

Mr. Thulasiraj said that the hospital was utilising the services of ‘grief counsellors’ in hospital who reached out to relatives of the deceased and ensured that eyes were removed within six hours.

“Also, we have taught general medical practitioners how to remove them and have given them kits. Besides, we also involve social welfare groups such as Rotary and Lions clubs. About 1,500 corneas were collected last year,” he said.

In a message to Dr. Namperumalsamy, the Ambassador of Portugal to India, Luis Filipe Castro Mendes, expressed “deepest satisfaction” and said, “This award, that you have largely deserved, means also one more positive link in the whole of Portuguese – India relations.”

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