Published by Dr B. Radha Ram

anan ( L.F.Hospital Angam

aly, Ernakulam D

ist. 683572. Ph 04802704932, 9447006421.em

ail rramanan@

sify.com) on behalf of K

erala Society of Ophthalm

ic Surgeons.

DR P.JAYADEVAND

AR

SA

NA

MNayana

Nayana

Nayana

Nayana

Nayana

For PrivateCirculation onlyJune 2011Vol. XII Issue - 2

Dr. S

US

EE

LA P

RA

BH

AK

AR

AN

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HE “D

IVY

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ELIG

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P RIO

TR

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ND

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MLIG

HT

ED U

P RIO

TR

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HT

ED U

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MDr V.Sahasranam

amW

hen the KSO

S General Secretary

enquired if I can have an interview w

ith Prof.

Suseela Prabhakaran

forpublishing in the K

SOS new

s letter, Ifelt rather privileged. M

adam w

as my PG

teacher and examiner and I had the

opportunity to work as her assistant for

many years at RIO

, Trivandrum. She w

asthe m

ost respected teacher andm

otherly figure for me. D

r. Biju John andm

yself had a three hour session with

her on a Sunday evening at her house.M

adam, w

hy did you take up Medicine

as a career? Was it because your

father was a doctor? H

ow did you

develop a liking in Ophthalm

ology?M

y father, Dr. V

Gangadharan w

as arenow

ned Surgeon, who retired as D

MO

from State H

ealth Services. But he w

asa very conservative person and he w

asnot in favour of his daughters going forprofessional courses, esp. M

edicine.B

ut since I was a rank holder in SSLC

and had high marks in Pre degree, m

yfam

ily friends and relatives couldconvince him

to send me for M

edicine.T

hus I

joined T

hiruvananda-puram

Medical C

ollege for MB

BS in

1961. I have fond mem

ories of greatteachers of those days, includingPrincipal D

r. Thangavelu, Dr. Pandala ,

Dr. K

allyanikutty Am

ma, Prof.

Raghavachari, D

r.K.N

.Pai and others.Senior O

phthalmologists of today,

Dr. Jayanandan (R

td. AD

HS, O

phthalm

ology), Dr. K

G.R N

air, (Chaitha

nya), Dr. Santham

ma Chacko (Rtd. from

Health Services) w

ere my class m

ates.D

r. Santhamm

a Menacherry, w

/o Hon.

Minister Sri.P J Joseph w

as also my

classmate. D

uring our final MBBS days,

stalwarts of M

edicine, Dr. K

N Pai, and

Dr. K

P Chandrasekaran w

ere ourm

edicine teachers. I had developed aliking for surgery even in those daysand I got the gold m

edal in surgeryduring the final M

BB

S. It was the first

time, a lady got gold m

edal in surgery. D

uring my ophthalm

ology postings I

The background works before the curtain rises on 23

rd

September 2011 is gaining m

omentum

. The registrationnum

ber is increasing day by day as the first level of cutoff date is nearing. The organising com

mittee is holding

meetings at every fortnight to assess the progress and

chalk out new strategies to m

ake it big. A web site

totally dedicated to Drishti 2011 has been hoisted by DrAlex Joseph, the organising chairm

an on 24th June 2011

at Hotel Casino, Thrissur. The w

eb address isw

ww

.drishti2011.org Releasing of 2nd announcem

entbrochure w

as also done by Dr Alex Joseph by handingover a copy to Dr C.V.Andrew

s , the incoming President

of KSOS at a function on 14th July 2011.

All those

eyes aredirected to

DRISHTI 2011at Thrissur

Cont....4

DRISH

TI 2011First level of cut off dates forregistration at reduced rates ends on31

st July 2011. Rates will be hiked after

that. We are requesting the delegates

to visit the conference website at

ww

w.drishti2011.org for updates.

Dr. K.P.Mathew (1924 -2011)Dr. K.P.M

athew, one of the senior-m

ost Ophthalmologists of Kerala,

left us on the 7th of June, 2011 after a short illness. He w

as eighty-seven. He w

as one of the founder mem

bers of the Kerala Society ofOphthalm

ic Surgeons, and Cochin Ophthalmic Club. He w

as alsovery active in the I.M

.A., Cochin branch. Born in the illustriousKuzhalnaattu fam

ily of Pothanikaadu, his medical studies w

ere in theprestigious Stanly M

edical College, Madras. After joining the Kerala

State Medical Services, he specialized in Ophthalm

ology from Grant

Medical College, Bom

bay. He served in various hospitals in Kerala,and w

as the HOD of General Hospital for a long time. He also served

as its Superintendent. He retired in 1979 and started his own hospital,

the KPM Eye Hospital. He served there till the very end.

He had authored a book, “Veettil Oru Doctor”. He was very active

in service fora and was aw

arded the ‘For the Sake of Honour” by theRotary International.He is survived by M

rs. Sophy, his wife, three children, five grant-

children and two great-grant-children.

Let us, the mem

bers of KSOS join his family in their prayers!

3

PagePresident’s

KS

OS

N

EW

S

LE

TT

ER

Dear C

olleagues,G

reetings from the Executive C

omm

itteeof the K

erala Society of Ophthalm

icSurgeons!

During the past 3-4 m

onths, I have hadopportunity to attend m

any of the CM

E

programs being held in all parts of K

erala.Som

e of these Continuing M

edicalEducation program

s are extremely good

with very good scientific m

aterial. Theattendance for m

any of these programs also

has been very encouraging.T

he Kerala Society should evolve

methods by w

hich we can get feedback of

many of these C

ME program

s. We can also

keep a list of all the topics that have beencovered in this year’s C

ME program

s andsuggest certain topics w

hich have not beencom

pletely addressed for the subsequentyear. This w

ill give more exposure to a

comprehensive O

phthalmologist. W

eshould understand that the purpose of anyC

ontinuing Medical Education program

isto update a practicing com

prehensiveO

phthalmologist and Post G

raduatestudents of recent developm

ents inO

phthalmology. The know

ledge that anO

phthalmologist gains by attending these

CM

E programs should be of help during his

day-to-day clinical practice. Therefore it isnecessary that w

e get the feedback fromattending O

phthalmologists as to w

hat theyexpect w

hen they come to attend such a

meeting and w

hether our programs are able

to address these issues. It would be a very

good exercise if the Kerala Society is able to

conduct such a feedback analysis andthereby im

prove the quality and content ofC

ontinuing Medical Education.

Meanw

hile I request all mem

bers toattend the next State M

eeting to be held inTrichur in large num

bers and make the

conference a grand success. A new

team of

office bearers will take over the K

eralaSociety of O

phthalmic Surgeons and I

sincerely hope that they will be in a position

to move this organization forw

ard.

With best w

ishes,D

r. Giridhar

Dear C

olleagues,G

reetings from the C

hairman, Scientific

Com

mittee, K

SOS

As you are already aw

are, Drishti 2011

will be taking place tw

o months before the

usual time and consequently the num

ber ofabstracts received this year has been lessthan expected. The first authors of papersaccepted for presentation have beenintim

ated individually. And the inform

ationhas also been uploaded to the K

SOS

website. Full texts of m

ost of the free papershave already reached the scientific com

mittee

chairman. W

e have also received adequaterepresentation from

the teaching institutesfor the PG

Quiz com

petition .The videos

for the Padmashree D

r. S Tony Fernandezsession have also started com

ing in. Thechairpersons/m

oderators/convenors havebeen w

orking on the various courses,sym

posia, updates, current conceptsprogram

mes etc and have alm

ost finalizedtheir respective program

mes.

We, at the scientific com

mittee have been

quite preoccupied with the job of preparing

an academic feast for you. The scientific

comm

ittee has decided the theme for this

Drishti to be “Intra Procedure C

ompli-

cations” So you will see som

e new progra-

mm

es. We w

ill of course be persisting with

the popular basic courses. The new

programm

es this time include:” The G

reatD

ebate”, and “Pearls for SuccessfulC

omprehensive O

phthalmology Practice”.

The cataract section has a series of VAST

Video A

ssisted Skills Transfer) Courses.

We have an interesting session titled

“Instrument/Equipm

ent Mainte-nance – A

Biom

edical Engineer’s Perspective” which

is going to be of great practical value to us.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN’SPage

The innovative programm

e Ophthalm

icPrem

iere League (OPL) w

hich was so w

ellreceived in D

rishti 2010 will be continued

in the same form

at.The focus of this year’s program

me has

been to have a judicious mix of the senior

and junior faculties of the KSO

S. We w

antthe youngsters to com

e to the forefront ofthe academ

ic activities and share thelim

elight with the existing lum

inaries.T

he LO

C and the local Scientific

Com

mittee have been doing a great job. The

website

editor has

been extrem

elycooperative and w

ithout his assistance lifew

ould have been quite difficult for us at thescientific com

mittee. T

he important

feedbacks received from the president K

SOS

have also contributed in no small m

easure infinalizing the program

me.

Please contact me at drishti2011sc @

gmail.com

for any clarification or if you want

to comm

unicate new ideas, w

ithout anyhesitation.

See you in TrichurW

arm regards

Dr. A

rup Chakrabarti

Chairm

an, Scientific Com

mittee, K

SOS

Dear Friends,

Greetings from

the secretaryThis year the D

rishti 2011 is on September 23-25

th at Lulu international Convention

Centre at Thrissur. I hope that this w

ill be great success. The venue is one of the bestvenues in K

erala. Our scientific com

mittee under the leadership of D

r Arup C

hakrabartihas already finalized the program

me for this year. This year is an election year. W

e haveto elect all new

office bearers for the next two years. The election w

ill be conducted on24

th of September. I request all those took K

SOS m

embership on their PG

days andcom

pleted the post graduation, please send a copy of PG certificate to K

SOS secretary

before August 15. O

nly those finished PG and subm

itted their certificate will be eligible

to vote in the elections.Jai K

SOS

Dr R

adha Ram

anan

PageSECRETARY’S

ReportK

JO E

ditors

KS

OS

N

EW

S

LE

TT

ER

Dear friends,

June issue of KJO

will be featuring refractive surgery topics as the central them

e with

regular features alongwith. A

lso the original articles of the award w

inning papers ofK

SOS annual conference of 2009 and 2010 are published in this issue. I sincerely thank

all the regular contributors of the scientific content of the journal. Also I urge the other

mem

bers to send some interesting clinical experiences they had. The editorial board is

ready to help anyone for correction of journal articles and we are bound to publish any

information useful for m

embers. N

ext issue will be a special collector’s edition dealing

with retinal diseases.

Thanking everyone for the supportJai K

SOS

Mahesh G

. Editor KJO

ReportW

ebsite Editor

Dear Friends,The new

abstract submission system

hasw

orked quite well and there w

ere no major

complaints. I thank all the m

embers w

hohad helped m

e in the various stages of itsconceptualization, design, testing, errorfixing and execution. I w

ould also like tothank all those w

ho have used it to submit

abstracts this time. The present system

canform

the basis from w

hich we can

continuously improve and fine tune the

system. A

nd for this we need feed back from

the mem

bers .Please give your feed backand suggestions for im

proving the abstractsubm

ission system by using the” contact

us” link in our website w

ww

.ksos.in orusing the feed back book in the K

SOS

Virtual Office site or by em

ailing me directly

to bijujc@gm

ail.com. These suggestions

if found feasible can be incorporated in thesystem

for next year. Few users w

erew

orried as

they did

not get

acknowledgem

ent mail for abstracts. This

is an issue which w

on’t go away

completely as the only thing w

e can ensureis that the acknow

ledgement m

ail is sentfrom

the host server. Its further behavior,the regularity by w

hich it finds itself inspam

boxes, filtered out by the recipientserver, etc is som

ething which w

e have notbeen able to control entirely inspite of ourbest efforts. B

ut one thing I want to assure

all mem

bers is that this is basically aW

YSIW

YG

system ie w

hen you login toyour subm

ission homepage “W

hat you seethere is W

hat you get” and this is what

that will be seen at the Scientific C

omm

itteechairm

an’s end also. So all you need tom

ake sure that your abstract is safelysubm

itted and your editings have beenapplied is to relogin and visualize it. A

nSM

S response system is also under

consideration for next year.

Details of D

RISH

TI 2011 will be updated

constantly in

the page

for that.

Congratulations to the organizing com

mittee

of DR

ISHTI 2011 for setting up a dedicated

website(http://w

ww

.drishti2011.org/), forthis w

hich can also be accessed from the

DR

ISHTI 2011 area of the official w

ebsite(http://w

ww

.ksos.in/drishti.php) as well as

directly. Please visit this site for the latestdetails, program

details etc of DR

ISHTI

2011.T

he work for converting the entire

Journals available in the KSO

S database toa searchable integrated system

is going on.H

owever this being a huge w

ork will take

some tim

e .Still I hope that by the time you

are reading this, it will be at least partly

functional.I once again request m

embers w

ho are notreceiving the K

SOS m

ails to update theiraddresses by clicking the A

ddress Change

link of the website and add your correct

mail ids and m

obile numbers.

Once again thanking all the m

embers for

their support and well w

ishesJai K

SOS

Dr B

iju John

Om

issionR

egrettedIn Last issue of N

ews Letter (Vol X

II Issue 1) the name of the interview

er ofProf K

.B.Venugopal w

as Dr TH

OM

AS C

HER

IAN

which w

as not mentioned

unintentionally. Regrets and apologies for the error. Editor.

ww

w.ksos.in

and update your Addresses

Join

KS

OS

Dr B. R

adha Ram

ananL.F.H

ospital Angamaly, Ernakulam

Dist. 683572.

Ph : 04802704932, 9447006421.em

ail rramanan@

sify.com

VO

TING

RIG

HTS

The PGs w

ho has passed their exam w

ill get full status of KSO

S mem

bershipw

ith voting rights in coming elections for K

SOS office bearers at D

rishti 2011only after producing their PG

certificate’s copy to the secretary before 15thA

ugust 2011.

KS

OS

N

EW

S

LE

TT

ER

KS

OS

N

EW

S

LE

TT

ER

45

started developing

a liking

forO

phthalmology, w

atching Dr. Sankaran.

doing perfect ICC

E. During m

y House

Surgeoncy days, I especially remem

berbeing w

ith Dr. P.K

.R. W

arrier Sir as histhird assistant in C

ardio Thorasic

Surgery. I still remem

ber the meticulous

ways

of scrubbing,

suturing a

wound and the system

atic artisticsurgical

work

taught by

him.

Anaesthesia w

as also a passion in thosedays and I had put 20 endotracheal tubesduring m

y house surgeoncy.O

n the third day after finishing my

House Surgeoncy, w

as my m

arriage.Since m

y husband, Dr.N

. Prabhakaranw

ent to JIPMER

Pondicherry to startthe Psychiatry D

epartment there , I

followed him

and joined as a seniorH

ouse Surgeon in surgery and alliedspecialities. D

uring that time, I had the

opportunity to work under D

r. N.N

.Sood,

who

was

the H

OD

of

Ophthalm

ology at JIPMER. H

e was such

a good teacher and an excellent surgeonthat he becam

e a role model for m

e inO

phthalmology. A

ctually I have named

my second son as D

evin after his son’snam

e, Devendar Sood. A

fter making m

edo m

y first DC

T surgery, he went and

told my husband that I w

as a bornsurgeon

and I

should take

upO

phthalmology. I had the opportunity

to do ECC

Es , even at that time under

the strict guidance of Dr. N

N Sood. It

was about this tim

e, ie. in 1968, DO

Course w

as started at Trivandrum,

Medical C

ollege and I got admitted in

the 1st batch along with D

r. Shyla & D

r.M

olly Abraham

. Our teachers w

ere Dr.

K S Subram

oniam and D

r.M.G.K

rishnan.D

O Course at that tim

e was 1 year course

after senior house surgeoncy inO

phthalmology.

After the sudden death of m

y father,due to the fam

ily circumstances m

yhusband

and I

came

back to

Trivandrum from

JIPMER and joined the

Medical C

ollege services here. When

Dr.Prabhakaran got appointm

ent atA

lappuzha, I also accompanied him

andjoined as Tutor in the O

phthalmology

Departm

ent in Alappuzha. D

r. M V

Johnw

as the HO

D at that tim

e. I did my M

Sin O

phthalmology as a Tutor trainee at

Govt.

Ophthalm

ic H

ospital,Trivandrum

.I w

as at Medical C

ollege, Calicut

along w

ith m

y husband

Dr.

Prabhakaran for 2 years. Dr.T.A

.Joseph w

as the HO

D. In early 1980s, I

was back at Thiruvanantha puram

.D

uring those days, Dr.D

handa & D

r.K

alevar had come to Thiruvanantha

puram and I w

as inspired by theirdedicated w

ork in Keratoplasty. I w

entfor 6 w

eeks training in Keratoplasty

with D

r. Kalevar at Indore. O

n thosedays, I had also gone to A

ravind EyeH

ospital and Sankara Netralaya as an

observer, to see their style of

functioning. In 1981, I got the WH

OFellow

ship in ophthalmic m

icrosurgery. I had been to M

oorfields EyeH

ospital, London, Aarhu’s C

omm

uneH

ospital, Denm

ark and Karolonska

Institute in Sweden during this period.

Era

of successful

microscopic

ophthalmic

surgery at

Govt.

Ophthalm

ic Hospital probably started

after this. Squint surgery used to bevery com

mon in M

oorFields Eye

Hospital even on those days and I

developed a liking for squint surgeryfrom

that time..

In 1987, I went to A

lappuzha, Medical

College as H

OD

in Ophthalm

ology. An

independent eye OT w

as started inAlappuzha, M

edical College Hospital duringthese days and a m

id-term K

SOS C

onf.w

as organised. In 1989, I came back

to Govt. O

phthalmic H

ospital, Thiruvananthapuram

. When D

r.M V

John, retiredin 1991, I becam

e the HO

D at G

ovt.O

phthalmic H

ospital, Thiruvananthapuram

. To elevate Govt. O

phthalmic

Hospital to the status of R

IO w

as oneof m

y dreams and I had taken the

initiatives for this even during ProfessorSubram

oniam’s days. A

fter becoming

HO

D at G

ovt. Ophthalm

ic Hospital I

started working tow

ards the goal ofelevating G

OH

to the status of RIO

. Iw

as posted as Special Officer for this

purpose in 1993. The Governm

ent Order

elevating G

OH

to

the status

of RIO

came out in 1995 and I becam

ethe

founder D

irector. M

anydevelopm

ents in the present RIO

got anupthrust after this.

The most tragic day in m

y life was the

sudden death of my husband, D

r.Prabhakaran on 5

th October, 1997. H

ew

as my friend, Philosopher and G

uideand this w

as a totally unexpected blowto m

e. It took years for me to recover

from the shock and regain norm

alcy. Iretired from

Govt.Service in 1998.

What w

ere your experiences as a P Gteacher and an exam

iner?Very G

ood. I had many years of

experience as a PG teacher. I enjoyed

teaching students and interacting with

them, it w

as a mutual learning experience

and I was also PG

examiner in various

universities inside and outside Kerala.

My students w

ere dear to me and m

yopinion as a PG

examiner w

as that “ alldeserving students should pass”.

You actually started doing phaco afterretirem

ent. Many people find it difficult

to switch over at this age. H

ow did you

manage this?I alw

ays liked surgery and thechallenges associated w

ith it. My

initiation into phaco was in 1996 (before

retirement), w

hen M/s A

lcon did a demo

of their machine at RIO

and kept it therefor som

e time. A

fter retirement, I w

entto C

incinnati Eye Institute, USA

where

I was trained by D

r.Osher the intricacies

of Phaco. Since my elder son B

ipin issettled in C

incinnati, I could continuem

y lessons in Phaco every year. I read alot of books on Phaco and alsoconcerned journals. D

uring the initialstages, I w

as also experimenting various

stages and types of phaco in Goats eyes

at GG

Hospital w

ith Appa phaco

machine.To observe phaco and perfect the

technique,, I also visited the AIIM

S, New

Delhi, Sankara N

ethralaya, Chenai ,

Aravind E

ye Hospital,

Madurai

and Eye centres of Dr.A

bhay Vasavada,A

hmedabad and D

r. Am

ar Agarw

al ,C

hennai,.Since 2000, I have been regularly doing

Phaco at our own hospital w

ith our Alcon

machine, upgraded frequently.

Q. M

adam, w

ith your long stint inG

overnment service and now

running aprivate hospital, w

hat difference do youfeel?

In a private hospital of your own, you

can do what you w

ish or want to do.

You can buy a machine or equipm

ent ofyour choice, w

hereas in Govt. sector, it

may not be possible alw

ays. But there

are a lot of other good things andadvantages in G

ovt. sector. But after

retirement definitely I m

iss teaching. Butstill I am

coaching my son, D

r.Devin and

daughter- in- law D

r.Kavitha and

paramedical staff and also participating

in CM

E programm

es where I learn and

teach as well.

Q. M

adam, w

hat about your children?M

y eldest son Bipin Prabhakar is an

engineer working in the U

S. He has got a

doctorate in Business adm

inistrationand Inform

ation Technology fromU

SA and teaching at C

incinnatiU

niversity. His w

ife Annu is M

.Tech inC

omputer Engineering and they have

three children, Mira, N

aina and Asw

in.Since, 1998, I m

ake it a point go to US,

once in a year to see my grand children

and also I take this opportunity toobserve the latest in O

phthalmology

at the famous C

incinnati Eye Institutefor 1-2 w

eeks. Apart from

Dr.O

sher, Ihad the privilege of w

atching Dr.

Cionni and other em

inent surgeons atsurgery in this Institute.

My second son D

r.Devin and his

wife, D

r. Kavitha are O

phthalmologists

and they

are w

ith m

e at

ourD

ivyaPrabha E

ye H

ospital,Trivandrum

. They have two children

Gokul and D

evika..M

y daughter, Divya w

ho is agraduate from

NIFT and her husband

Sreeji Gopinathan, E

ngineeringgraduate

from

Tvm

and

MB

Afrom

UK

, were at N

ewcastle, U

K and

now they are back to India, presently

at New

Delhi. Sreeji at Philips India and

Divya’s present w

ork can be watched

at De C

akery in face book.They havetw

o children, Gautam

and Aarcha.

Q. M

adam, w

hat are your interestsother than ophthalm

ology?I like cooking and gardening. I have

learnt Bharatanatyam

in my childhood

and the interest in dancing gives arhythm

to your life. I like stitching andused to stitch dresses for m

y children.I have stitched som

e of the aprons Iuse in our O

T. At 60 years of age, I

started learning

Sanskrit and

Bhagavatgita. A

t 64, I have learnedsw

imm

ing as part of physiotherapyfollow

ing a bimalleolar # and now

I findthat it is an extrem

ely good exercise anda sw

im in the m

orning keeps you activeand energetic and at the sam

e time

relaxed for the whole day.

Regarding social service activities: I

am the Founder President of the Inner

Wheel club of Tvm

South which has

taken up several service projectsincluding prevention of blindness andI w

as the District C

hairman of

Innerwheel during 91-92.

Q. M

adam, w

hat is your advice to theyounger O

phthalmologists?

1.See the patient as a whole and not

the Eye alone.2.Take a proper history and D

o am

eticulous systematic exam

ination

Dr. SUSEELA PRABH

AKARAN

-T

HE

“DIV

YA

PR

ABH

A”

TH

AT

TH

E “D

IVY

A

PRA

BHA

” T

HA

TT

HE

“DIV

YA

PR

ABH

A”

TH

AT

TH

E “D

IVY

A

PRA

BHA

” T

HA

TT

HE

“DIV

YA

PR

ABH

A”

TH

AT

ON

CE

LIGH

TED

U

P R

IOO

NC

E LIG

HT

ED

UP

RIO

ON

CE

LIGH

TED

U

P R

IOO

NC

E LIG

HT

ED

UP

RIO

ON

CE

LIGH

TED

U

P R

IOT

RIV

AN

DR

UM

TR

IVA

ND

RU

MT

RIV

AN

DR

UM

TR

IVA

ND

RU

MT

RIV

AN

DR

UM

cont.. from page 1

3.Don’t be in a hurry, esp. in planning

surgery. Don’t take things for

granted, do all the required tests.4.Take an inform

ed consent even form

inor surgeries.5.B

e prepared to take a reasonablerisk, for the good of the patient, ifyou are com

petent.6.G

laucoma needs special attention,

keep your eyes open to detectG

laucoma, stress the need for

proper and continued treatment, to

avoid unnecessary blindness7.D

on’t deny

surgery due

toadvanced age of the patient.

8.Never talk ill of your colleagues,

whether

seniors or

juniors,especially in front of your patients

Q.

What

are the

awards

andachievem

ents you have got?A

few of these w

ould includeC

AR

APET gold m

edal for securing Istrank in the State for SSLC

, Gold M

edalfor Surgery in Final M

BB

S, ‘Knight of

the Blind’, award by Lions International,

Platinum Jubilee aw

ard of the Indian RedC

ross Society, Sevana Retna aw

ard byN

etaji Samskarika Sam

ithi, Paul Harris

Fellow of R

otary International etc.M

y real Aw

ard is my w

ealth ofstudents spread all over K

erala and my

patients of three generations and thestrong support from

my fam

ily.M

y motto is’ keep learning’. Surgery

is not work or strain for m

e. It is a work

of Art. It is actually a relaxation for m

eand I enjoy updating m

yself and my

colleagues. It is not the returns in theform

of money that m

atters, but theglitter of H

appiness in patients’ Eyes.A

s our Prof. Dr. K

.S. Subramoniam

used to say, ‘if you rest you will rust’. I

think we are all lucky to be in this

profession as Ophthalm

ologists.B

efore leaving Madam

’s house afterthe three hour long interview, on behalfof the K

SOS, w

e wished M

adam and her

family all the bright things in future. O

nthe

way

back I couldn’t

helprem

iniscing that we had learned a lot

from M

adam’s experiences and that even

at this time M

adam is very active in the

profession as well as in the hum

anitarianactivities in the society and has a lot toteach the present generation.

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67

KS

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Ne

ws

Conferences

Two im

portant events are making K

SOS to throttle in

top gears. Drishti 2011 and A

IOC

2012. Both the

Organising com

mittees had num

ber of sittings to make

the incident a great achievement. W

e request allm

embers to visit the w

ebsites and gain more

information. Y

our whole hearted support and active

participation is a must to m

ake both congregationssom

ething to be mem

orised.

Elections 2011.M

ore than one nominations are there for m

any posts ofK

SOS for the annual election to be held on 24

th September

2011 at conference site of Thrissur. KSO

S mem

bers arerequested to bring their identity card from

KSO

S for theelection. PG

mem

bers are to gain their full status of KSO

Sm

embership w

ith voting rights only after producing a copyof their PG

certificate to KSO

S secretary before 15th A

ugust2011.

CM

Es so far.

1.C

ME on D

iabetic Retinopathy. O

n 27.3 2011 at Kottayam

2.C

OR

NEA

.CO

M. A

n Update. O

n 10.4 2011 at Calicut.

3.M

id Year Workshop on R

esearch Methodology. O

n 14th &

15th of M

ay 2011. Organised by RIO

Thiruvananthapuram.

4.C

urrent Expert Opinions in O

phthalmology. O

n 22May

2011. Organised by C

haithanya Eye Hospital and

Research Institute at Thiruvananthapuram

.5.

CM

E on Intra Procedural Com

plications by Chakrabarti

Eye Care Centre. On 3

rd July 2011 at Thiruvananthapuram.

6.Sym

posium on C

ornea & Eye B

anking. On 17

th July 2011.O

rganised by Little Flower H

ospital, Angam

aly.7.

Kaazhcha 2011C

ME on R

ecent Trends in Ophthalm

ology. O

n 24th July 2011 at H

otel Abad Plaza K

ochi.Forthcom

ing CM

EN

euro ophthalmology CM

E 2011. On 31 July 2011 at H

otelM

arina Residency K

ozhikode.

KOLLAM OPHTHALM

IC ASSOCIATION – KOAW

e had our bimonthly m

eeting on 4.6.11. The presidentialaddress w

as given by Dr R

amesan P. The speaker for the

evening was D

r Biju John from

RIO

, Thiruvanandapuram.

The topic for the evening was ‘Pre D

etachment Lesions –

When to Treat and H

ow’. The talk w

as very informative

and 20 mem

bers attended the meeting. A

fter the talk Dr

Biju John answ

ered a number of questions raised by the

audience.

Dr R

amesan P.

Dr A

lex K.O

omm

enPresident K

OA

Secretary.

COCHIN OPHTHALMIC CLUB: COC M

ARCH 2011The m

onthly scientific meeting of the C

ochin Ophthalm

icC

lub was held on the 24

th of March, 2011 at the IM

A H

ouse,C

ochin. The scientific session was chaired by D

r. PaulM

athew. The program

me included 2 talks by our ow

nm

embers, one each by D

r. Freddy T. Simon and D

r. Anil

Radhakrishnan. D

r. Freddy T. Simon spoke on ‘B

asics ofC

orneal Topography’ and Dr. A

nil Radhakrishnan spoke on

‘Recurrent C

orneal Erosions - C

urrent Trends in

Managem

ent’. Both these talks w

ere well appreciated. The

General B

ody decided to nominate D

r. Freddy T. Simon to

the KSO

S executive as the representative of the Cochin

Ophthalm

ic Club.The treasurer D

r. Meenakshi D

harpresented the C

OC

accounts for 2010 – ’11, which w

asapproved by the house.

talk by Dr. Jacob M

athew (Vasan Eye C

are, Cochin) on

‘Technologic wonders of the m

illennium and the future

in store for Cataract Surgery’. This w

as followed by a

panel discussion on Post operative care in Cataract

Surgery. The panelists were D

r. Saju Joseph, Dr. D

avisA

kkara, Dr. Sony G

eorge, Dr. Shane M

athew and D

r,A

shok Nataraj. D

r. S. Sasikumar m

oderated the paneldiscussion.

Community Programmes.A

total of 55 eye camps w

ere conducted during this period.7745 patients w

ere examined in these cam

ps and 630underw

ent cataract surgery. Eye D

onation. A total of 92

eyes were received as donation at the Little Flow

er EyeB

ank in May 2011. 18 w

ere used for transplant at LFH, 19

were sent to other hospitals, 55 w

ere used for studypurpose. The Eye B

ank at Dr. Tony’s superspeciality Eye

Institute collected 14 eyes in May 2011, 4 w

eretransplanted at D

r. Tony’s Institute and 3 were sent to

other hospitals.Report prepared by D

r. Thomas C

herian, Secretary, CO

C.

THRISSUR ACADEMIC CLUB OF

OPHTHALMOLOGY. TACO

March 2011

The meeting of M

arch was held at H

otel Casino on 25.3.11.

The academic session began w

ith an article review by D

r.Jainy joseph from

medical college Thrissur, on the treatm

entw

ith Bim

atoprost of patients with 360 degree synechie in

chronic AC

G. The guest speaker of the day was D

r. Quresh

Maskati from

Bombay w

ho spoke on ‘What’s new

in Ocular

Surface Disease’. H

e discussed the new classification and

managem

ent levels of dry eye now know

n as Dysfunctional

Tear Syndrome. The im

pact of pre existing dry eye on Lasikw

as also discussed.

April 2011C

omm

unity Programm

es: TAC

O held 26 cam

ps in April.

Total no. of patients screened were 3341 and 618 patients

underwent cataract surgery.

May 2011

TAC

O held a peripheral centre m

eeting at Hotel M

eadows,

Chalakudy on 1

st May. TH

E speaker was D

r. Thomas

Cherian w

ho discussed Com

mon R

etinal Infections likeTB

, CM

V, AR

N, H

elminthic infestations etc. O

n 27th M

ay,the scientific m

eeting included a case discussion by Dr.

Bessy N

inan and Dr. Sathi D

evi from N

arayana Nethralaya,

Bangalore spoke on ‘C

ontroversies in the Managem

ent ofO

pen Angle G

laucoma’.

In comm

unity ophthalmology, total num

ber of camps held

in May w

as 37 and 5376 patients were screened. 577 patients

were taken up for surgery.

Report by : Dr. V.Sudha

CLU

B Activities

World Glaucoma W

eek 2011The W

orld Glaucom

a Week w

as observed by the CO

C and

KSO

S, jointly with the R

otary clubs of Cochin East and

Cochin W

est. The programm

e was organised on the 7

th ofM

arch 2011 at the Rotary Trade School H

all, Near Toc H

School, Vyttila, Cochin. D

r. A. G

iridhar gave the Prseidentialrem

arks. Dr. Saikum

ar S.J. spoke on ‘Glaucom

a: What is it?’.

This was follow

ed by a panel discussion on Glaucom

a andits m

edico social aspects. Dr. A

. Giridhar, D

r. Saikumar S.J.,

Dr. R

adha Ram

anan B., D

r. Sony George, D

r. Thomas A

runVarghese and D

r. Thomas C

herian were the panellists. D

r.Thom

as Cherian proposed a vote of thanks.

Community Programmes.V

arious mem

ber hospitals of the CO

C conducted

comm

unity programm

es. The various mem

ber hospitals ofthe C

OC

are, The Little Flower H

ospital, Angam

aly, TheLittle Flow

er Hospital A

nnexe, Koonam

mavu, D

r. Tony’sEye Institute, A

luva, The Am

rita Institute of Medical

Sciences, Giridhar Eye Institute, The D

harmagiri H

ospital,K

othamangalam

, The MO

SC M

edical College H

ospital,K

olencherry, The Aditya Eye H

ospital, Thrikkakkara, TheA

lexander Eye Centre, Ernakulam, The Renjini Eye H

ospital,Ernakulam

, The Ahalia Eye H

ospital, Ernakulam, ‘Sight

Restoration India’ clinic at M

attancherry and The

‘Abhayam

’. A total of 52 cam

ps were conducted during

this period, and 8959 patients were exam

ined in these camps

and 673 patients underwent cataract surgery at respective

hospitals. School Screening Programm

es. Giridhar Eye

Institute conducted 1 School screening programm

es,screened 430 school children, 80 children w

ith eyediseases w

ere identified and referred to the hospital. Eye

Donation. A

total of 103 eyes were received as donation

at the Little Flower Eye B

ank in March 2011. 17 w

ere usedfor transplant at LFH

, 28 were sent to other hospitals, 58

were used for study purpose. The Eye B

ank at Dr. Tony’s

superspeciality Eye Institute collected 24 eyes in March

2011, 5 were transplanted at D

r. Tony’s Institute and 5w

ere sent to other hospitals.

CME Programmes.

Giridhar Eye Institute conducted a half day W

orkshopon Low

Vision at IM

A C

onvention Centre, K

aloor,C

ochin on Sunday the 6th M

arch 2011 under the aegisof K

erala Society of Ophthalm

ic Surgeons and Cochin

Ophthalm

ic Club.

April 2011The m

onthly scientific meeting of the C

ochin Ophthalm

icClub w

as held on the 26th of A

pril, 2011 at Hotel Renaissance,

Cochin. The scientific session w

as chaired by Dr. A

nuradhaR

ao. Dr. Freddy T. Sim

on spoke on ‘Epidemiology and

Diagnosis of D

ry Eye’ and Dr. A

jay Dave (D

ave Eye Clinic,

New

Delhi) spoke on ‘M

anagement of D

ry Eye - An Inside

Out A

pproach’ and ‘Topical Cyclosporine - Identifying the

right patient’. Dr. Saikum

ar S.J., Organising Secretary for

‘Drishti 2010’ presented a cheque for R

s. 5.5 lakhs, fromthe proceedings of the conference to the C

OC

PresidentD

r. A. G

iridhar.

Community ProgrammesThe various m

ember hospitals of the C

OC

conductedcom

munity program

mes. A

total of 32 eye camps w

ereconducted during this period. 5572 patients w

ere examined

in these camps and cataract surgeries w

ere done for 556patients.

Pre School Screening ProgrammesD

r. Tony’s Superspeciality Eye Institute conducted 1 PreSchool screening program

me in 4 A

nganwadis of

Kizhakkam

balam Panchayath, screened 78 children, 16

cases of unidentified defective vision were picked up, 16

children with eye diseases w

ere identified and referred tothe hospital. Eye D

onation. A total of 89 eyes were received

as donation at the Little Flower Eye B

ank in April 2011. 18

were used for transplant at LFH

, 10 were sent to other

hospitals, 61 were used for study purpose. The Eye B

ankat D

r. Tony’s superspeciality Eye Institute collected 22eyes in A

pril 2011, 8 were transplanted at D

r. Tony’sInstitute and 8 w

ere sent to other hospitals.

May 2011T

he monthly scientific m

eeting of the Cochin

Ophthalm

ic Club w

as held on the 19th of M

ay, 2011 atG

rand Hotel, Ernakulam

. The scientific session was

chaired by Dr. S. Sasikum

ar. The programm

e included aC

ont... page 9

98

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Recently the vaults of Sri Padmanabha tem

ple was opened ,m

arvellingthe treasure it has been storing for years unidentified. A

nalogous to itis the cruise V

S Ram

achandran is doing in brain for years and has beencrystallised in m

any and the recent book ‘The Tell- Tale Brain’. H

e hasopened the vast dom

ain of brain for us in this book. The development of

knowledge of brain is just 30 years eclipsing its ‘bronze age’.

Ram

achandran traces diseases to identify the role each part of brainplay in our lives. W

e had studied Phantom Lim

b in our physiologyclasses. It is R

amachandran, w

ho is familiarised as M

arco Polo ofneuroscience by none other than R

ichard Daw

kins, has come out w

iththe cause and treatm

ent of it. His contributions to identification and

understanding of diseases include Capgras Syndrom

e and Synesthesia.H

ow hum

an brain is unique from all other anim

al brains is explainedfervently. H

e throws light from

new angle on how

brain processesincom

ing sensory information. The role of m

irror neurons in autism,

development of language and m

ore is explained fascinatingly. Mind you

it is your mind that encourages you to get refined in intricacies of

aesthetics. Finally it is all neurons and wiring betw

een them w

hich makes

us perfect or pervert. It will be a loss, especially for us w

ho prosper inscientific field not to go through this book.

Dr. Babu Krishnakum

ar

KOZHIKODE OPHTHALMIC

SOCIETY KOSThe last bim

onthly general bodym

eeting and clinical discussion was

held on 8th may 2011 at hotel hyson

.New

set of office bearers were selected/

elected in this meeting .The m

eetingw

as followed by a clinical discussion

by Dr M

anoj from Trivandruim

on thetopic ocular tuberculosis.

CM

E on Glaucom

a conducted byK

ozhikode ophthalmic society and

Glaucom

a society of India under theaegis of K

SOS on 5-6-11 at H

otelM

alabar gate. Ksos secretary D

rR

adha Ram

anan inagurated the CM

E.M

ore than 80 delegates attended theC

ME

. Faculty from K

SOS and

Glaucom

a Society

of India

participated

Dr C

handrakanth, Secretary

Kozhikode O

phthalmic Socittey

BO

OK

SH

EL

F

The Tell-Tale B

rainV.S.R

amachandran

Cont... from

page 7

WEBSITE A

IOC

CO

CH

IN 2012

ww

w.aioc2012.in

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CME REPORT “KAAZHCHA -2011”

“On Recent Trends in Opthalmology”

July 24, 2011 Venue : Abad Plaza K

ochi

Dr.Tony’s Eye Super Speciality Eye Institute and Lasik Centre markedits second successful CME KAAZHCHA -2011 “On Recent Trendsand Ophthalmology”. Eminent national and international facultiesparticipated and presented papers on relevant topics. The chief guestwas Prof.Dr Michael Denton one of the most successful doctors whoseresearch has led to the identification of new disease genes provideda unique opportunity in revealing the salient study in Gene therapy.The programme began at 8:30, Padmasree Dr.S.Tony Fernandezmade a humble beginning by a warm & heartfelt welcome speech.Dr.C.V Anthrayose,President Elect,KSOS delivered the PresidentialAddress. The inaugural speech performed by the Chief guest Prof.Dr. M

icheal Denton. Dr.N.S.D Raju.President elect,AIOS,Dr.Thom

asCherian,Secretary,Cochin Ophthalmic Club, Dr.

Kumaramanickavel addressed the gathering and Dr.Ashok NatarajConcluded by thanks giving speech. The sessions started with Lasikas the first topic. The chair person of the session was Dr.TonyFernandez and the moderator was Dr.Davis.J.Akkara.The topicswere “Current options in Refractive surgery”by Dr.Prem

aPadamanabhan, “Complication of Lasik” by Rajesh Fogla and “LasikFlap and beyond”by Dr.Rohit Shetty. The second session startedwith the ever so popular topic Cataract. The chairman for the sessionwas Dr.Sasikumar and the moderator was Dr.Saju Joseph.The topicswere “Difficult Phaco situations” presented by Dr.Prem

aPadmanabhan and “Problems with IOL” presented by Dr.ArupChakrabarti. The third session for the day was Cornea. Thechairperson was Dr.R.R Varma and the moderator was Dr.PhilipKurivilla. The session covered topics namely “Recent Advances inCorneal Surgery” by Dr.Rajesh Fogla “Applications of Penta cam”by Dr.Freddy.T.Simon and “Recent trends in the Management ofKeratoconus” by Rajesh Fogla. Next was the oration byDr.Michael.J.Denton. Dr.E.J Mani introduced Dr.Michael to thegathering. The topic was “The role of Genes and self organization inthe development of the Eye” The next session proc eeded with thetopic Glaucoma. The chairperson was Dr.C.V Andrews and themoderator was Dr.P.J Thomas.The topics were “Chennai Glaucomastudy and its implications in practice” presented by Dr.Ronnie George.The next topic was handled by Dr.Radha Ramanan about the“Controversies in Glaucoma”. The the third topic of the session dealtwith the “Clinical implications of land mark studies in Glaucoma” byDr.Sonia Njavally. A video presentation by Dr.Ronnie George was

demonstrated during the end of the session glaucoma. The last sessioncomprised the topics Retina, Teleophthalmology and Orbit. Thechairperson for this session was Dr.T.P.Ittyerah and the moderatorwas Dr.Thomas Cherian. The first topic was “Gene therapy in Retinaldisorders-where do we stand now?”was presented byDr.Kumaramanickavel. The next one concerned about “HeidelbergRetinal Tomograph in Posterior segment Evaluation” by Dr.MaheshGopalakrishnan. Then Dr.Rohit Shetty presented the topic“Teleophthal solutions in Opthalmology”.The next topic was “Recentadvances in Cosmetic Lid Surgery” was presented by Dr.PrasanthRaphael. The final topic was presented by Dr.Ashok Nataraj on“Update on plus Disease”

CME “Symposium on Cornea and Eye Banking”

The Ophthalmology department of Little Flower Hospital Angamalyconducted a one day CME programme named “ Sym

posium on

Cornea and Eye Banking”at hotel Elite Palazzo on July 17 th2011.The CME coincided with the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of LittleFlower Hospital .The programme was inaugurated by Dr C VAnthrayose President elect KSOS and presided over by FatherVarghese Ponthenpally Assistant Director Little Flower Hospital . DrB Radha Ram

anan Hon Secretory KSOS gave felicitation .103delegates attended the symposium. Apart from host faculties four eminentguest faculties from esteemed teaching institutes were present. DrPrashant Garg from L V Prasad Eye Institute who is a world authorityon Infectious Keratitis highlighted the emerging challenges in MicrobialKeratitis. Dr Jeevan S Titiyal from All India Institute of Medical Sciencesenlightened the audience with the recent trends in Keratoplasty andtalked in detail about Endothelial Keratoplasty.Dr Radhika Tandonfrom All India Institute of Medical Sciences talked about THOA , Govtgrants in starting an eye bank and HCRP. Mr Saurabh Biswas currentlythe Programme Manager India with Sight Life talked briefly about EyeBank accreditation and eye donation counseling . Host faculties includedDr Freddy T Simon ,Dr Anil Radhakrishnan,Dr Arup Chamrabarthy,Dr Bastin V A and Dr Aneeta Jabbar

Dr. S. Sudharshan at TACO

Dr. N

arayanankutty at TAC

O