Legacy of Thiru. Appasamy P. S. N.

Appasamy Associates and group of companies, founded in the year 1978, are forerunner in the field of Ophthalmology, manufacturing indigenous and affordable ophthalmic medical devices. Owning manufacturing units in Chennai, Pondicherry, Kolkata and Baddi with distribution centers across India. This company specialized in manufacturing Ophthalmic Equipment, Micro Surgical Instruments, Intraocular Lenses and Ophthalmic Surgical Pharmaceuticals. Founder Late Thiru Perumalsamy Sankara Narayana Appasamy founded and lead the organization till early March 2022.

In 1978, torch light and forceps were the order of the day for practicing ophthalmologists and other vision care professionals, we, the manufacture of very first indigenous Cryo Surgical Equipment to extract the lens from the cataract affected eye revolutionized the world of Indian Ophthalmology. Through perseverance, sheer hard work and continuous innovation, Thiru Appasamy has delivered the state of the art medical equipment like Vitrectomy, Keratometer, Surgical Microscopes, Phaco Emulsifiers, different kinds of Ophthalmic Lasers, all for the first time in India. All this happened when there was an absence of efficient Ophthalmic Equipment and when import was heavily restricted and expensive.

India has now become the pioneer in the field of Ophthalmology and its efforts have made modern technology easily accessible for ophthalmic surgeons and vision care professionals in the country as well as worldwide. Indian ophthalmic Industry exports its indigenous products to many countries which eventually reduced the imports of the same. By selling Ophthalmic Equipment and Medical Devices to rest of the world, India has earned around hundreds of crores Indian rupees in value. Concurrently, by making ophthalmic instruments and IOLs Indian ophthalmic industry is saving thousands of crores Indian rupees in value which indirectly contributing Indian Economy enormously. Today, Indian Ophthalmologists are the best equipped medical professionals in the world, thanks to the man behind this revolution Thiru Appasamy. A man of simplicity, Thiru P.S.N. Appasamy has inspired many to take up indigenous manufacturing and to make health care affordable, with two patents to its credit in 2012.

Thiru. Appasamy employed women workforce which covers around 50 percentage of the total workforce of the company, thus contributing towards women empowerment of our society enormously, which was not conventional on those days in the industry. He encouraged women to take up a career in order to bring up their standard of living and to contribute to their family income. He strongly believes women are high calibrated personnel to adapt to any kind of jobs in human society as their contributions in all terms are invaluable to the family and the society as well.

IOLs made from Appasamy Associates receive huge reception at the International Market. To name a few, in Argentina under Government’s Pension scheme major contribution of IOL supplies are from Appasamy Associates and the similar case in Indonesia and Philippines were the IOLs are very well appreciated and being supplied under many Government Hospitals through preventable blindness eradication programmes and schemes. Appasamy Associates supplies Quality Ophthalmic products to the entire African continent with a motive to serve many under privileged countries in Africa which is often ignored by other International manufacturers.

In the world of ophthalmic instruments and equipment, his products are unmatched in terms of quality and affordability. Thiru Appasamy has made it possible to deliver affordable IOLs to the masses in India. He took the advantage of the best available manufacturing technology and doing it so, he is not only addressing the national press social and health issues such as helping blind to see again but also quietly establishing innovative Indian products in growing Western markets.

Thiru. Appasamy also built a Multi Specialty hospital being set up to serve his local community who are in need for the affordable Health care, is the another milestone in his remarkable contribution to the society.

Achievements

In the 1970s, he worked in US for a contact lens manufacturer, and soon began his own company making a low cost product called CRYO that is used to freeze the nucleus of an eye. At that time, a European company made the similar machine capable of doing the same job. The European machines were too expensive for doctors to import from India. Mr. Appasamy simplified the design, and was able to sell a more suitable product for an affordable price. The new machine became very popular in India and made cataract removal a much more viable procedure, particularly for doctors taking their services to patients in rural and remote areas.

The company which he founded counts more than 16,000 Indian doctors as its customers, all of whom are looking for Affordable cost and reliable performance that would replace imported products. For example, Ultrasound machines that used to cost Rs. 50,00,000 to 60,00,000 but that Appasamy Associates supplied for just Rs. 5,00,000 many years back.

It is indeed a challenge to relentlessly pursue a noble principle of delivering affordable health care and Thiru Appasamy has been consistent in his efforts for the past 4 decades. He has never once compromised quality with affordability and his perseverance has been much applauded by everyone. Appasamy Associates also exports its Indigenous Ophthalmic products to more than 80 countries, thus indirectly contributing to the economic growth of our country.

Awards/Recognition Received by Thiru. Appasamy P. S. N. in Tamil Nadu

We firmly believe that Thiru Appasamy and his passion to manufacture Medical Devices in India have placed Tamilnadu in the forefront among manufacturers of ophthalmic medical devices. Thiru. Appasamy received Life Time Achievement Award presented by MADRAS COUNCIL OF OPHTHALMIC ASSOCIATION MCOA in 2014. Very recently, TAMIL NADU OPHTHALMIC ASSOCIATION TNOA applauded Appasamy Associates for its eternal contribution in Ophthalmic Industry at its Annual Conference at EROVISION 2017. The company associated itself with various programmes initiated by State and Central government to eradicate preventable blindness by making available quality ophthalmic medical equipment and instruments at very affordable prices to both public and private hospitals. India is the only country in the world, where 70 percentages of the cataract surgeries are done FREE OF COST to the beneficiaries through relentless efforts by the governments.

Awards/Recognition Received by Thiru. Appasamy P. S. N. in India

Appasamy Associates contributes almost half of sale of Ophthalmic Instruments, Supplies and Equipments in India and 25 percentages of overall Exports in terms of volume. Since its inception, Appasamy Associates hold its position as one of the biggest Manufacturer in the field of Ophthalmic Industry by the tireless efforts of visionary Thiru. Appasamy. Since 2009, Appasamy Associates has been consistently awarded the STAR PERFORMER OF THE YEAR under the category of Medical Devices, Surgical Instruments and Orthopaedic Devices Category by EEPC India, Engineering Export Council of India on Export performance.

His contribution for Eye care in India is unparalleled, he truly makes Eye Instruments, MADE IN INDIA, MADE FOR INDIA. In the field of Ophthalmic Manufacturing Industry, he is the one who made eye instruments for any Ophthalmic doctor to buy and provide quality care with minimum budget in contrast to the instruments and Equipments imported, eventually saving economy and silently contributes to boost economy of India. To name a few, Equipment like Keratometer for measuring the curvature of the cornea used to be made by Japanese manufacturers and imported in India, but now it is also made by Appasamy Associates.

Awards/Recognition Received by Thiru. Appasamy P. S. N. internationally

Doctors in India are free to undertake their own private practice, so it is essential that equipment is affordable, which is also why, Thiru. Appasamy runs a program to help doctors to buy the equipment they need to undertake cataract surgery. The company also exports its products, and regularly Exhibits in trade shows in the US and Europe market mainly and covers all important conferences in all the continents. His contributions and relentless efforts have also been published and praised in many International Ophthalmology magazines like Euro Asia and Medical Manufacturing.

According to WHO Reports in the year 2006, PREVENTION OF CATARACT BLINDNESS PROGRAMMES initiated by Central Government and conducted by State governments, has achieved a CSR Cataract Surgery Ratio of 6000 or more, which is on par with developed nations like the USA, the European Union, Australia, Japan and South Korea. A discerning evaluation with the Indian ophthalmologists will prove that Appasamy Associates played a very important role in this achievement by providing affordable equipment, micro surgical instruments and Intra Ocular Lenses for such preventable blindness programmes. Thiru. Appasamy received Life Time Achievement Award from the INDIAN INTRAOCULAR IMPLANT AND REFRACTIVE SOCIETY in July 2009.

Frost and Sullivan Healthcare Awards declared Appasamy Associates, as the OPHTHALMIC IMPLANT COMPANY OF THE YEAR in 2012.

Impact of the contribution to the Ophthalmic Equipment Manufacuting

Introduced India s first low cost Cryo Surgical equipment for Ophthalmology, Indian Price at Rs. 1,500 whereas an equivalent imported unit cost Rs.25,000. He introduced world s first non electric Vitrectomy unit in ophthalmology another import substitute, in 1979 which is one of the most reliable and virtually trouble free unit till date. Many eminent surgeons use this unit at the cost of Rs.18,000 instead of their own imported units which is close to Rs. 5,00,000. Imports of Vitrectomy units have been reduced to minimum and virtually no more imports of Vitrectomy Units since 1985.

He introduced India s first Ophthalmic Nd.Yag Laser unit in 1994 a successful, home grown Appasamy product and it is only one of its kind Manufacturers in India till today. After a cataract is removed and replaced with an intraocular lens, sometimes the capsular bag becomes thicker and frosted behind the lens, causing light to scatter before it reaches the retina. To alleviate the problem, a laser is used to perforate the opaque area of the capsule, allowing light to penetrate more readily. For 20 years, German optical company made the only YAG laser available in India, until Appassamy designed and built a lower cost version.
He introduced India s first Phaco Emulsification Unit for small incision cataract surgery in 1995 and even now Appasamy Associates is the largest seller of Phaco emulsification system in India.

Contributions to the Society

As everybody could not afford high cost of corporate hospital s patient care, Thiru. Appasamy wanted to serve community with most advanced Equipments and good infrastructure to provide a quality treatment at low cost to the needy which is like how he applied manufacturing concepts to supply world class Equipment at affordable cost to the needy, thus started a Multi Specialty Hospital.

Initially the hospital was started as a 50 bedded Multi Specialty Hospital and later with continuous growth and quality patient care it is developed to a 100 bedded hospital catering to the patients of this locality and also from far of places. Considering the suffering of patients due to inadequate Dialysis Machine at Chennai Thiru. Appasamy set up 10 Dialysis Machine and now the Dialysis centre is doing more than 4000 Dialysis per year. It is one of the dialysis Centre performing more Dialysis under Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme in Tamil Nadu provides low cost dialysis services to hundreds of patients with high patient care.

As he is already in the field of Ophthalmology this hospital carryout Eye camps regularly and doing cataract Surgeries in collaboration with District Blind Control Society. It is periodically conducting General Health Camps and many Awareness Programmes to the general Public, thus contributing immensely to the society.