Lack of awareness about diseases, particularly chronic ones, continues to be a challenge in managing them. Educating the patients about the risk factors, natural history of the disease, prevention strategies, importance of adherence to treatment and follow up are important components in management. The concept of Shared Medical Appointments (SMA), originally developed by the London Business School is a method which can potentially solve this issue. This model was tried by the Glaucoma department of Aravind-Pondicherry. Here, the patients having the same disease share a medical appointment with the consultant. They are counselled together and their queries are answered. It effectively improves the knowledge, awareness and follow- up rate.

–Aravind-Pondicherry