‘People of Chennai are ethical and god-fearing’

Chennai is renowned for its open-mindedness, love and affection of the people, and ethical, god-fearing attitude. Healthcare is also highly advanced, with technology, competent doctors and affordable services. The Rotary Rajan Eye Bank, established in 1995, has been promoted in The Hindu newspaper, leading to an increase in eye donations from one pair a week to one or two pairs a day.

Chairman and Medical Director, Rajan Eye Care, Mohan Rajan

What quality of Chennai do you like the most?

The unique quality of Chennai is the open-mindness, love and affection of the people, and the attitude of people – live and let live; there is a space for everybody in Chennai, and that is the biggest advantage which is not there in other cities. That is why when people from outside come and settle here, they feel “Chennai is home for us”. People, the environment and workplaces make them comfortable. Chennai is a very orthodox city, a conservative one. Another important thing about Chennai is that people are very ethical, god-fearing, and harmless.

Healthcare in Chennai

Chennai is the mecca of medical or healthcare in the entire country. One reason is technology, which is evolving, and Chennai is embracing that technology very fast. Second is the competence of doctors who are here, and the third is, the doctors are passionate and compassionate, full of empathy and very ethical. That is the reason why people throng Chennai from various parts of the country and the world. Another aspect is that healthcare is affordable to everybody here. Coming to the top is not very difficult, but staying at the top on a sustainable long-term basis is something very difficult. That is what Chennai has done, we are able to compete with the international healthcare scenario much better. We have the best paramedics in Chennai. The city has all ingredients for quality healthcare. When healthcare has become almost completely commercialised, Chennai stands on the top and stands apart because we are not commercialised, and we are ethical.

Your association with The Hindu

We started the hospital in 1995, and subsequently, we opened the eye bank in 1996. It became the Rotary Rajan Eye Bank in 1997. At that time, eye donations were not popular in the country, and many were waiting for corneal transplant surgeries due to the lack of motivation from the public for eye donations. The concept of eye donations was promoted in the newspaper. Even today, we can see ‘eyes are donated to Rotary Rajan Eye Bank’ in the obituary column. This actually was a catalyst for the eye donation movement. Even today, we have – Donate eyes, give the gift of sight – below the obituary column. This has improved the overall awareness on eye donations. In 2000-2002, we used to get only one pair of eyes a week. Today, we receive one or two pairs a day. This is mainly because of the continuous long-term messages that came in The Hindu.