Distinguished Lecture Series - 'Information Technology In Eye Care: Aravind Model'

Colours, scenery, movies, and this screen, if you're reading this - many of us tend to take for granted what millions can't see. Thank God for little miracles like an eye hospital, and for bigger ones like Information Technology.

International Institute Of Information Technology (IIIT-H), as part of its 10th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture Series, is conducting a talk on 'Information Technology In Eye Care: Aravind Model', on 27th August at 3pm, at Saranga Hall on its campus. The lecture will be delivered by Dr. P Namperumalsamy, Chairman, Aravind Eye Hospitals (Madurai).

The lecture will discuss the success story of Aravind Eye Care, an eye care facility with several locations in India. It started with 11 beds in a rental building in 1976, and now houses almost 4,000 beds and treats 3 million patients per year. There are around 3,00,000 surgeries performed every year, and this amounts to 45% of the total eye care in Tamilnadu, and about 4% of the national figure.

The motto of Aravind Eye Care System is "You have to do what others don’t, to achieve what others won’t," and the institution seems to stretch its limits in sticking to it. Aravind works on a self-sustainable model to reduce blindness in society, by performing affordable surgery in large volumes and of high quality. It has achieved this by, utilizing IT's exponential growth to the maximum, by its mission of serving remote areas with the Teleophthalmology capability.

About Dr. P Namperumalsamy

Born in 1939 in Theni District, Tamilnadu, P Namperumalsamy graduated in Medicine, and completed his post-graduation in in Ophthalmology from Madras and Madurai Universities, respectively. He also underwent a fellowship training for 4 years in the US. He is a founding member of the Govel Trust, which runs the Aravind Eye Hospital group apart from the Postgraduate Institute Of Ophthalmology in Madurai. He currently heads the Aravind Eye Care System, as Chairman and a Professor of Ophthalmology.

He has been involved in several research projects as Principal Investigator, and has published research papers on many topics, including on Eales’ Disease. He has received numerous awards and accolades, including the Padmasri, a Lifetime Achievement Award by the All India Ophthalmological Society, an Achievement Award by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the Dr. B C Roy National Award (2006) in the category of Eminent Medical Teacher.

P Namperumalsamy has set up IT-enabled Vision Centres in rural areas, and has established the Aravind Virtual Ophthalmic Academy. He has also taken a leading role in the establishment of Dr. G Venkataswamy Eye Research Institute. His special interest is in fighting against vision impairment due to diabetic retinopathy, and ever since he was trained as a Fellow in Diabetic Retinopathy 1972, he has launched a number of community awareness projects related to the subject.

Please contact the venue at 2300-1967 for further details.