CHENNAI: “I have been associated with Dr Badri since 1977. He was my mentor,” said TS Surendran, chairman of Sankara Nethralaya and director of pediatric ophthalmology. Surendran, along with several of his colleagues, and well-wishers of Dr SS Badrinath gathered at the Sri VD Swami Auditorium at Sankara Nethralaya on Saturday for the Padma Bhushan Dr S. S. Badrinath Memorial.
A year since his demise, Dr Badrinath’s legacy is being carried forward by the team at the hospital. “We have about 600 employees, take care of almost 4,000 outpatients and perform 400 surgeries every day, of which almost hundred are done free of cost,” pointed out Surendran. “The principle, I would like to say we inherited from him, would be ‘Work is worship’ and do it with sincerity, dedication, and utmost love.” Concurring, Dr Prema Padmanabhan, a senior consultant (cornea and refractive surgery), said, “Chief’s (Badrinath) detailed attention and commitment to excellence made us aim high and we are continuing to do so.”
Dr Badrinath founded Sankara Nethralaya and made it one of India’s largest charitable hospitals. His contributions were recalled at the event. Chairman emeritus of Aravind Eye Care, Dr P Namperumalsamy shared, “Badrinath brought the technology used around the world here and made them affordable.” He went on to talk about Dr Badrinath’s spiritual background. “What we see with our limited visions are the outer aspects, and that is the least important part. If our work is approached from our spiritual perspective, then it becomes a divine action and if you let the divine force work through you, you will accomplish things far greater than the human imagination,” he said.
Our country has a false belief that we do not have resources but the truth is “we have excellent surgeons, infrastructure, and the organisations. All that we lack is managerial competence. To learn that, we travelled to all the leading institutions. Badrinath has come to our institution (Aravind Eye Care) so many times over the years. There was no competitive energy. We developed ideas and it was delivered to people, that is most important,” he mentioned.
The guest of honour of the event was N Ram, director, The Hindu Publishing Private Limited. He talked about his time with Dr Badrinath. He quoted a line from the book, Tribute to a Legend, Dr SS Badrinath 1940-2023: “Watching him operate was like watching Michelangelo at work. His fingers obey his principles and the concentration is that of a yogi”. That was the man. That was Dr Badrinath.
Concluding the event, Smita Praveen, director of academics, said, “As chief said, ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago but the second best time is now’. It is now on us to take his principles and plant them in society.”