VALUE ADDITION -- 2 :
“We conducted
this camp as part of our ‘Tata Voluntary Week’ (TVW) celebrations aimed at
creating a healthier community around us.
So, while our employees and their families got examined, our staff
showed voluntary involvement in personally reaching out to the needy,
especially the poor deserted senior citizens”, Gateway General Manager R
Muralidharan told me.
“Besides
screening vision, we gave professional consultations and have offered support
for further treatment including surgeries to the needy. Our Chief Dr Girish Reddy and Dr Mugdha Kumar
will perform surgeries at our Ooty branch hospital”, Dr Jetanshu Kaush of The
Eye Foundation, who led the team at the camps, said.
“All
the welfare measures we had extended through TVW all these years had been well
received by the community. The endeavour
had given all our associates a tremendous mental satisfaction of being use to
the needy in the sphere it is sought.
Now, for the current eye-care scheme, we have sponsored spectacles and
medicines to the needy and will support follow-up treatment”, Gateway Human
Resource Manager D Antony Gerald noted.
TAJ GATEWAY PARTNERING WITH THE EYE
FOUNDATION FOR EYE CARE
BY P S SUNDAR
When Taj
Gateway Hotel, Coonoor, joined hands with The Eye Foundation Ooty in the
conduct of eye-care camps, it was more than a welfare measure for its employees
because the beneficiaries included the community around.
“We conducted
this camp as part of our ‘Tata Voluntary Week’ (TVW) celebrations aimed at
creating a healthier community around us.
So, while our employees and their families got examined, our staff
showed voluntary involvement in personally reaching out to the needy,
especially the poor deserted senior citizens”, Gateway General Manager R
Muralidharan told me.
“We offered
professional eye health check-up to the beneficiaries through the team from The
Eye Foundation in two sessions – one in our hotel campus where the community
around us, especially those in Church Hill residential area, got screened for
eye health. In the second session, our
employees took the team from The Eye Foundation to Anbalayam Old Age Home in
Denalai village where all the inmates – the deserted senior citizens – received
professional screening and the necessary consultations”, Muralidharan
disclosed.
That is what
makes TVW different from staff welfare schemes – here, while the staff stand to
benefit, they act as volunteers in taking the welfare measures out to the
community.
“Besides
screening vision, we gave professional consultations and have offered support
for further treatment including surgeries to the needy. Our Chief Dr Girish Reddy and Dr Mugdha Kumar
will perform surgeries at our Ooty branch hospital”, Dr Jetanshu Kaush of The
Eye Foundation, who led the team at the camps, said.
“All
the welfare measures we had extended through TVW all these years had been well
received by the community. The endeavour
had given all our associates a tremendous mental satisfaction of being use to
the needy in the sphere it is sought.
Now, for the current eye-care scheme, we have sponsored spectacles and
medicines to the needy and will support follow-up treatment”, Gateway Human
Resource Manager D Antony Gerald noted.
“Since
its inception in Ooty in 2011, The Eye Foundation has conducted several camps
resulting in about two lakh people from about 450 places in the Nilgiris getting
free services”, said India’s renowned ophthalmologist Dr D Ramamurthy, who had
established The Eye Foundation in 1984 at Coimbatore.
“Besides
camps in villages, we visit Wellington Cantonment Hospital on Wednesdays (which
covers one lakh population) and RKC Clinic at Kotagiri on Thursday (which
covers 80,000 population). We hold special camps every year at Govt Cordite
Factory, Aruvankadu. We have also
conducted seven camps so far in tea estates in Kotagiri where poor have benefited
from our surgeries as well”, he said.
Interestingly,
The Eye Foundation has conducted several camps in hotels where besides the
employees and nearby community, hotel guests have also benefited.
Over
a million patients have got treated for various eye diseases in the portals of The
Eye Foundation in Coimbatore and branches of Ooty, Tirupur, Mettupalayam,
Bangalore and Kochi.
“Among
the reasons for choosing our services are affordability, all types of surgeries
being done, no hospital admission for regular surgeries, no stitching, no pain
no bed rest for cataract surgeries, and spectacles – lens and frame included –
from Rs 750 being supplied”, Dr Ramamurthy explained.
He
disclosed, “To enable comprehensive eye evaluation, we have facilities
including
a)
LASIK/bladeless LASIK (Intralase) treatment for myopia (near vision), hyperopia
(Distance
vision) and astigmatism (blurred vision) .
b) Phakic intraocular
lens for high myopia.
c) Suture
less cataracts surgery with latest sovereign phaco emulsification system.
d) State of
the art glaucoma and vitreo-retina services.
e) Squint and
low vision aids clinic.
f) Corneal transplantation.
g) Contact lens
clinic.
h) Computer vision
clinic.
i) Headache
clinic”.
“In the last
six years of functioning in Ooty, we have conducted 2,449 surgeries including
2,155 cataract”, he said.
“The doctors
of The Eye Foundation Ooty regularly create awareness on eye donation. We
have all facilities available to harvest eyes on call. Our expert team visits
the place immediately on receiving call and arrange for the transplantation to
the needy one”, Dr Ramamurthy added.
 |
| Dr D RAMAMURTHY |
(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)
