Community Ophthamalogy

“While those who can afford to pay demand world quality health care delivery, where do the poorest of the poor figure?” was the question that reverberated in the mind of Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan. He knew the answer as well, that the poor, as equal human beings as the haves, also deserved the same kind and quality of medical treatment. But, “How can I make it happen?” was the question daunting him. After a long deliberation within himself he found an answer to his question. Ophthalmology as a super-specialty has made phenomenal advancement all over the world and India hasnever lagged behind.

From the traditional intra-capsular extraction of cataract hardly 20 years ago, today, cataract surgery is done as an out-patient procedure. The advent of electronics in the instrumentation and equipment used in ophthalmic surgery has made amazing difference in the quality of vision given to eye patients. While the privileged in the society easily get the state-of-the-art service, a vast majority of the poor, especially those living in the thousands of villages are deprived of even the basic quality ophthalmic service, resulting in millions remaining unnecessarily blind for want of a few hundred rupees or owing to the non-availability of an eye surgeon around. While the city of Chennai can boast of the best quality eye service available in the country, there are several villages hardly 30 kilometers away, whose inhabitants are denied the basic eye service delivery.

To Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan, his heart was still burdened with the concern for the poorest eye patients remaining uncared for and neglected. To him, providing world class eye treatment to those who can afford it, was certainly important. But equally important, if not more, was the need to provide at least the basic minimum eye service to the rural and poor population in Chennai and in the several districts adjoining Chennai.

Added to this is the incidence of new cataract which is estimated at 20% of the prevalence, i.e., 2. 7 million added every year. Against this, a target of 5 million cataract surgeries was fixed as the target and the achievement was only 40, 68,027.To clear the backlog of cataract gradually, at least 400 surgeries per I, 00,000 population need to be done every year. If this yardstick is applied to Tamil Nadu, which has a population of 7 Crores approximately, the prevalence of cataract would stand at 7, 94,000 and the incidence at 1.58 lakhs a year. As of today, the cataract blind population in Tamil Nadu may be estimated at about 9.5 lakhs.

Against 1400 surgeries for a population of 1,00,000 Tamil Nadu is performing around 596 surgeries, i.e. against an estimated 9.5 lakhs, only 3.96 lakhs a year. This would leave a backlog of about 5.54 lakhs but an additional 1.58 lakh new cases would put the new backlog figure at 7.12 lakhs and it might seem so simple that cataract could be eradicated within two or three years. But the problem is not as simple as it looks.The backlog will continue to remain heavy for a long time to come and it is this heaviness that has created a heavy burden in the heart of Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan to launch a project of Community Ophthalmology.

In response to the burden, he established The Chennai Vision Trust as the Community Wing of Rajan Eye Care Hospital in the year 1995 to serve the neediest and the poorest of the poor patients in the rural villages, which have no possibility to receive any service. Although free eye services are available through the public health delivery system, the rural poor do not avail the Service for several reasons. In order to ensure that the rural poor do not remain blind because of cataract for long years, through the imaginative strategy of Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan, Chennai Vision Charitable Trust has been taking eye services to the door steps of the people living in the remote villages of five Districts, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram adjoining Chennai, besides covering the poorest sections of Chennai District.

Regular and periodic eye screening camps numbering more than 2100 have so far been conducted by Chennai Vision Charitable Trust. Patients found with cataract were brought to the Base Hospital in Chennai, admitted, given food, operated and taken back to the villages with their vision restored.

General Camp (Cataract)

3,600

Camps Conducted

10,00,000

Patients Screened

1,15,000

Free Cataract Surgeries

2,50,000

Spectacles

3,00,000

Medicines

In Association With

Rotary | Lions | Marvadi Yuva Sangh | Jain Trust

Saikrupa Trust | Nandalala Seva Samidhi Trust | Balavihar

Shreyas | Aishvarya

“People’s Doctor” and his thirst for service could not be quenched

National frontiers cannot contain the incurable zest of this “People’s Doctor” and his thirst for service could not be quenched by the demands within India and hestretched his helping hand to some of the poorest countries in the T hird World handicapped by inadequate number of ophthalmic surgeons.

He has been visiting Bangla Desh regularlyto perform surgeries as part of the community ophthalmology initiative and has performed more than 500 cataract surgeries. In 2002 he visited Malawi in Central Africa where he performed more than 325 cataract surgeries.

In addition to this he had visited Andamans and the war struck areas of Sri Lanka in 20 IO to conduct eye camps, wherein hundreds of patients had been screened for their eye ailments.i and in the several districts adjoining Chennai.

This is not the end of Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan's Mission. There are nearly 2 million people blind because of corneal disorder. All of them could gradually and easily be given the gift of sight if only the eyes of the I lakh people who die in a year could be collected to be used in corneal transplantation, and corneal blindness can be eradicated in just 10 years. Against the available 2 lakh eyes, only about 30,000 eyes are collected every year from all over India

Towards combating corneal blindness, Dr Mohan Rajan established the Rajan Eye Bank, as an integral part of the hospital's CSR activity, in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Madras T. Nagar. So far, over 4500 corneal transplant surgeries have been successfully performed totally free of cost. Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan is anxious that out of about 100 deaths reported everyday in the city of Chennai alone, if only about 10 pairs of eyes could be collected, corneal blindness in and around Chennai could be eradicated in no time. This Eye Bank is working round the clock and the team reaches the place of the deceased within half an hour of receiving the call to collect the eyes. There is a long waiting list of patients for corneal transplantation.

In order to create awareness about the importance of and the need for donating precious eyes, which are now either buried or burnt, Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan is observing the Eye Donation Fortnight year after year, by conducting several programmes among school children, college students, and service clubs. The campaign comes to a grand finale with a public rally on the Marina Beach.

• Inter school Painting competition between August 25th and September 8th at Rajan Care Hospital
• More than 50,000 have pledged their eyes
• Spreading the message of Eye Donation on All India Radio (AIR), TV etc.
• Conducting symposiums, seminars and updates on corneal transplantations in offices, factories, schools and colleges
• Eye Donation awareness meetings at Rajan Eye Care Hospital.
• Rally to create awareness about Eye Donation. Venue: Gandhi Statue to Anna Square-Marina Beach.

Rajan Eye Care Hospital also has a specialized clinic for Diabetic Eye Disease. The clinic is well equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities. As Diabetes population is increasing in big numbers in our country and studies show that by the year 2025 India will be having the highest diabetic population in the whole world. Awareness programmes on Diabetes and its complications are of great importance and Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan has been doing a lot of work on the same.

Blind Free India is a project initiated by Rajan Eye Care Hospital and is a comprehensive eye care project not only aiming to eradicate cataract blindness but also blindness due to other causes

The fight against blindness has to be taken on a war footing, as otherwise the blind population by the year 2020 will touch a baffling 30 million mark. This ever-increasing backlog is further compounded by the fact that super specialty within ophthalmology accounts for the slow clearing of the backlog. This trend is more profound in the cities, what with the Ophthalmologists being more attracted towards super specialty treatments rather than basic problem such as cataract. Although cataract accounts for 81% of total blindness, there are other causes of blindness such as Trachoma and Infections (0.2%), Corneal Opacity (3%), Vitamin A deficiency (0.04%), Refractive Errors (7%), Glaucoma (2%) and other causes including accidents and injuries (6.76%). With a view to clearing all backlog of blindness, Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan has launched a project called, “Blind Free India : A Reality” with a holistic approach to combating blindness, with emphasis on prevention and cure.

The world population is going to increase from 6.5 billion to 7.5 billion by 2020. And there is also going to be an increase in the global ageing population from I billion to 2 billion by 2020, which means that all age related problems like Cataract, Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degenerations etc... are going to be on the rise. Tackling this blindness either preventive or curative is going to be a big burden to the Government and Rajan Eye Care Hospital recognizes this as a major problem and therefore is giving the due priority for the “Blind Free India” project in its corporate agenda.

The Blind Free Van which has been envisaged by Rajan Eye Care will be one of its kinds in India. The intention is to take the services to the door steps of the villagers. The Vehicle was equipped with all state-of-the art facilities including:

The Blind Free India Project of Rajan Eye Care Hospital and Chennai Vision Charitable Trust aims to cover a population of 10 million in phase I and 10 million in phase II, thus taking Tertiary Eye care to the rural doorstep. Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan's wish of reaching the best of quality treatment to the poor and the needy irrespective of caste, creed and religion will become a reality through this Nethra Vahana project. The project is done with the support of Cognizant Technologies and other organizations who would be interested in this CSR activity.lt is in this context that the dedication, commitment and demonstration of Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan assume significance and relevance and need to be recognized. No doubt, he is heading a 'World Class State-of-the-Art' Ophthalmic centre in the heart of the Chennai city, but what distinguishes him from the rest of his peers is that he is combining his brilliance with compassion, thus finding the right blend and balance between his head that knows and his heart that cares

In a materialistic world that we live today where what matters is only money, it is notonly rare but most heart-warming to find a person of the caliber and commitment of Prof. Dr. Mohan Rajan who has taken on himself the onerous task of making India a 'Blind Free India”.

Rajan Eye Care Hospital has an ongoing Project, “REEP” (Refractive Errors Education and Prevention) with an objective of eradicating blindness in children in this part of the country. Keeping this goal in mind, the hospital has extended its facilities free of cost for any child upto the age of 12 at Rajan Eye Care and any of its satellite centres.

Today's children are tomorrow's citizens. The school children, in a developing country like ours, form the backbone of the country. Some of the common eye problems among school children are Refractive errors, Squint, Amblyopia, Corneal blindness, Ocular Trauma, Congenital problems like Cataract and Glaucoma, Vitamin A deficiency, etc of which Refractive errors are the commonest cause. Rajan Eye Care Hospital has launched this project for mainly focusing on the various eye problems among school children.

1. Identification of children at high risk, for example:
2. Intensive treatment of these children
3. Education and counseling of children with refractive errors
4. Vitamin A supplementation whenever required.
5. Education of the parents of these high risk children with various eye problems and to create awareness about squint, refractive errors, ambylopia, etc
6. Regular eye check-up of these school children once in 2 years and of the high risk children every 6 months depending on the seriousness of the eye problem.

Children Of Rural India Needs Eye Care Accessibility. This project of Rotary Rajan Eye Bank aims to cover "CRUSADE AGAINST CHILDHOOD BLINDNESS” under which 1000 Corneal Transplant surgeries will be performed for Children below the age of 15 years. This project aims at eradicating corneal blindness in this part of the world.

Tender Eye Care Project was launched with an objective of eradicating blindness in children in this part of the country. Keeping this goal in mind, the hospital has extended its facilities free of cost for any child upto the age of 12 at Rajan Eye Care and any of its satellite centres.

Equal Health is a team consisting of Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, Dentists, Dental Nurses, Physicians, Paramedical workers from different parts of Australia. Recognized by the Government of Australia as NGO the team headed by Mr. Paul Clarke is doing yeoman service in countries like India, Africa, Vietnam, Cambodia etc.

Rotary Club of Madras T. Nagar in association with Rajan Eye Care Hospital, RotaryClub of Belconen, Australia and Equal Health Organisation Australia, is conducting a series of Eye, General Medical, Dental Camps in Orakadu, Cheyyaar and Oorapakkam (South Chennai) for the past 14 years.

A total number of 1,00,000 patients were screened and free Cataract + IOL surgeries for 10000 patients have already been done and a total number of 3000 spectacles were given free of cost to the patients in these camps.

A special focus on children eye care is usually done. Treatment of problems related to children like squint, congenital cataract, refractive errors, corneal blindness etc have been given a special impetus. There are 7 million children in Tamilnadu and the blindness prevalence is around 7%. Approximately 4-5 million children in India are blind mainly due to refractive errors and corneal blindness. Free Vitamin-A tablets and spectacles for children are distributed.

This Indo-Australian Joint project has been done this year for the 14th year in succession and till date more than 10,000 cataract and IOL surgeries using the latest technique of Phacoemulsification + Foldable Intraocular Lens Implantation have been done in this project. This camp is an annual project of Rotary Club of Madras T.Nagar, Rotary Club of Belconen, Australia in association with Equal Health Organisation, Australia and Rajan Eye Care Hospital, Chennai

The Slum Vision Project is a first of its kind in Chennai wherein a comprehensive Eye Screening will be done for all Slum dwellers. In a recent analysis close to 26 - 30% of the population of Chennai are living in the Slums. There are close to about 3000 slums in and around Chennai with a total population of 1.5 to 2 million people. Each slum has an average of around 200 to 300 house hold.

The aim of this project is to identify and treat Curable Blindness in the slum population. A total of 1000 slums will be covered in the next 4 years in this Slum Vision Project.

In the Slum Vision Project we will be doing the following in the slums

• Vision Testing
• Intra Ocular Pressure Checking Using Non Contact Tonometer
• Slit Lamp Examination
• Diabetic Retinopathy Screening
• Glaucoma Screening
• Free Eye Drops
• Yag Laser Treatment For Glaucoma & After Cataract
• Green Laser For Diabetic Retinopathy
• Free Spectacles Per Slum
• Vitamin A Suppliments
• Blood Sugar Testing
• Checking Of Blood Pressure

An innovative Project initiated by Rajan Eye Care Hospital which will benefit about 2.5 lakhs members of Tamil Nadu Differently Abled Federation Charitable Trust.

The Project aims at providing a privilege card which entitles

• Comprehensive Eye Screening.
• Out Patient Procedures.
• Eye Surgeries which includes Cataract, Glaucoma, Retina etc.
• Spectacles for Refractive Errors.
• Lasers for Diabetic Retinopathy and Glaucoma.
• Eye Drops and Medicines.

All treatment modalities will be done free of cost for the differently abled members in this project. Free Eye Surgeries will be done at the Base Hospital.

Top Gallant Media organized COVID WARRIORS AWARD 2020. It was a ceremony to acknowledge and felicitate the leading contributors who have taken the initiative to bring a pleasant and powerful change in the field of Healthcare.

The announcements of winners were done through video conferencing. COVID WARRIORS AWARD 2020 brought together people from the Healthcare sector in one place to discuss, network on issues that are so pertinent to this industry. The discussion highlighted the issue related to securing India’s Health. Shripad Yeso Naik( Union Minister of State for Ayurveda, Yoga Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, Govt. of India), Tarun Chugh (General Secretary of BJP and National Convener of Beti Bachao – Beti Padhao) were the Chief Guests and Guest of Honour.

The Covid Slum Relief Project initiated by Rajan Eye Care Hospital and Chennai Vision Charitable Trust in the month of May 2020. The Corona pandemic has brought misery to millions of people in our country more especially to slum dwellers.

The CSR Project initiated by Rajan Eye Care Hospital and ChennaiVision Charitable Trust with the main objective of providing relief to all the slum dwellers in and around Chennai.

The following are the Milestones covered in the CSR project for the past 6 months:

1. More than 95 slums Badrikari, Gangaikaraipuram, Singh Temple area, Dharmapuram, Griappa Road, Ventuvangeni North & East, Thorapakkam, M.K.Radha Nagar, T.P.Chatram, Naduvangarai, Kakan Colony Besant Nagar, SS Puram, Kodambakkam Market, Tharamani, Avadi, Thiruporur, Sarngapani street, Grama street, etc., KK Nagar, Saidapet, Kotturpuram, Adambakkam, Minjur, Alandur, Guindy, Iyyanpanthangal, Velachery, Teynampet, more than 25,000 families covered till date.
2. 3M Goggles, Sanitizers, N95 Mask, Face Shields has been given to more than 2000 Chennai City Police.
3. Nitrile Gloves 4000 given to Namakkal Government and other Government Hospitals.
4. N95 Masks, Sanitizers gave to RIOGH, ICH, Corporation dispensaries.
5. Rice, Wheat, Bread, Masks etc given to Corporation and Sanitary workers.
6. Rice and Food to Metro Water Drivers, Cleaners, and Staffs.

We are happy to inform you that this ongoing project is well supported by Donors and well- wishers. We are planning to cover 300 slums in the next 2 months with a total of 75000 Families.

Rotary Rajan Eye Bank, Project of Rotary Club of Madras T.Nagar, R.I. District 3232 has been conducting Eye Donation Awareness Program in the form of Eye Donation Rallies, Painting, Drawing, Quiz completions, Symposium and Seminars for the School and College Students for the past 24 years. Several Kollywood actors and Sports personalities have pledged their Eyes to Rotary Rajan Eye Bank as a Sight Ambassador, thus creating Eye Donation Awareness to the general public.

Mr. Viijay Amritraj the Ace Tennis Legend, U.N. Ambassador for Peace has been associated with Rotary Rajan Eye Bank since 2007 as a Brand Ambassador creating a huge impact on this social cause of Eye Donation in this part of the world.

The Vijay Amritraj foundation based in L.A has also been supporting Rotary Rajan Eye Bank for the past 12 years in Free Corneal Transplantation Surgery to the poor and the needy. The Project ONLINE EYE DONATION is a novel project of Rotary Rajan Eye Bank in this COVID ERA to encourage more people to pledge their eyes ONLINE and get a citation signed by the ACE Tennis Player, Brand Ambassador.

The main objective of this (Project OED) online Eye Donation is to motivate more people to come forward to pledge their Eyes after death, also to create awareness among the general population on the need for Eye Donation after every death. Because of the Covid Pandemic, the online eye donation makes it easy for every person to pledge their Eye and get a Citation by the touch of a button: https://rajaneyecare.com/rajaneyebank or just sms “EYE” TO 92205 92205 and automatically you will get a citation in your name for this noble cause.

Approximately 90 - 100 deaths occur in the country everyday and all the eye banks put together we are getting only 15 – 20 pairs, the remaining are going to waste. So Corneal Blindness in our country can become past history if only there is a better awareness among the general public about the Eye Donation.

Be proud that you have donated your eyes and given sight to the blind.

Do not Burry and Do not Burn Eyes.

Useless to the Death which is Priceless to the BLIND.