‘I’ CARE

I am one of those unlucky people who have been wearing glasses from my seventh class. It all started with my grandfather asking me for the score during an India- Sri Lanka one-dayer(Cricket seems to RULE my existence!). I, who was literally a few hair breaths away from the screen, couldn’t tell him the score. Then it dawned to all of us… SANDHYA is short-sighted!!!
Sigh!*?
Gasp!#*!
I cried and cried and threw one major tantrum( come on… I was just in my SEVENTH class!). “I WONT WEAR GLASSES!!!” I wailed. But wear I did! I was taken to The Raajhan Opticals in T.Nagar and a computerized checking confirmed our fears. I chose one ‘soda- buddi’ kind of frame and from that day joined the ‘specksy’(yeah…King Khan calls it ‘chashmish’) brigade.
My confidence nose-dived and I felt bad about the fact that every waking hour, an instrument had to aid my vision. But things changed the next year…
Li’l me was in my Eighth class holiday mood when amma announced that it is time I go for my eye check up! What horror!!! To top it all, she insisted that this year I go to our family eye hospital- Rajan Eye Care Hospital(No 5,Vidyodaya East 2nd street,T.Nagar,Chenai-600017).
Hospitals have never been any favourite of mine! It conjures up images of pain, suffering, medicines and vomit! With such ‘high hopes’, I went to Rajan Eye care Hospital. I was tested there by the warm and friendly optometrists and then by the cheery and affable Dr.Mohan Rajan also. Slowly I found my dislike and inhibitions regarding hospitals melting away. Even after they told me that I had inherited my grandfather’s weak retina, I found that I REALLY loved the place.
Now…after almost 6 years, the hospital is more of a second home to me. This is where, during my tenth, they discovered a small retinal hole and patched it up by a cryogenic surgery. This is where, an year later, they strengthened my retina using laser. Both the times, other than the little uneasiness that it was an operation, I felt so comfortable and in safe hands. The caring words of Dr.Mohan and his assistants still ring in my ears. They are the ones who made my retina strong and normal like everyone else’s now.

This is from where I bought my first pair of contacts- my source of confidence! Thanks to the ever warm and friendly Dr.Sujatha for encouraging me to switch over to lenses in my eleventh. I do not know what I would be without them. My contacts make me feel that I too am of some importance in this world. Anyone who does not wear glasses will NEVER know the depressing side of it. It makes you feel a trifle odd and mighty dependant. Think of it- the first thing I do on getting up is to grope for my glasses( what else will a person with a power of -3.75 and -4.00 do?) It has not changed now, but now I have the comfort of contacts.
Every 6 months, I pay a visit to this most patient-friendly eye hospital in the city! I am so comfortable there. I feel protected and under the care of people who are not only talented but also kind. Be it an old person or a young one, what you get is top class attention and treatment. From Strabismus surgery to cataract, it proves to be a centre for microsurgery, phacoemulsification with foldable Intraocular lens( IOL) implantation, keratoplasty, diabetic eye disease treatment, neuro ophthalmology, contact lens, retina and vitreous clinic, pediatric ophthalmology, orbit and oculoplasty, lasik laser for treatment for myopia and hypermetropia (short and long sight),macula clinic transpupillary thermo therapy(TTT) Laser, Photodynamic Therapy(PDT) for macular degeneration, low vision clinic, digital imaging system, Bausch & Lomb vitrectomy system. The hospital, begun by Dr.Mohan’s father- Dr.Rajan, established Chennai Vision Charitable Trust (CVCT) in 1995. It is a non-profit organization which through the many eye camps, aims to eradicate curable blindness.
What I admire most about the hospital is the way they innovate and introduce many schemes, projects, camps and thus make eye-care an essential and easily accessible facility. They are always surpassing themselves and setting standards and trends in providing the best in ophthalmology. They have established satellite centers in Bharani Hospital(T.Nagar), Musvee Hospital(Greens Road), Chengalpet Diabetic centre, Atomic Energy Hospital(Kalpakkam), Metropolitan Transport Corporation and Conscious Health Services(Dhaka).
They have an in-house opticals- Nethra Hospitals for spectacle care.Professionalism, perfection and patience- they have it all!This is one hospital where you feel jittery, tensed and agitated the first time before you enter it, but the second you enter it, there is a sudden relaxation, a feel of excellent hospitality and comfort.
Words fail me when it comes to expressing how much I owe to the hospital and for that matter, my family owes to it.(My grandfather was the late Dr.Rajan’s last patient and he underwent a cataract surgery in Rajan Eye Care. My cousin was treated with Lasik Laser to obtain a spectacles/Contact Lens-free vision.).
So many eyes saved…so many ‘visions’ obtained. True to their tradition, Rajan Eye Care Hospital moves towards excellence in eye care with an ‘I Care’ motto in its path!