Back in 1976, one in every 60 Indians suffered from blindness, with over 80% of these cases being fully reversible. This alarming reality prompted the government to launch the National Programme for Control of Blindness.
However, much of the ground-level transformation was propelled by a handful of public-spirited, non-profit institutions, particularly from Tamil Nadu. At the forefront of this charge was the Sankara Eye Foundation.
Over the decades, the foundation has performed 3 million free surgeries to restore vision or prevent blindness. Today, operating across 11 states with 15 super-specialty hospitals, they have conducted over 42,000 screening camps for underserved communities and screened more than 7 million schoolchildren for vision defects.
Watch our full interview with Dr. R.V. Ramani, Padma Shri recipient and visionary founder of Sankara Eye Foundation, as he reflects on this extraordinary journey.