Sankara Eye Foundation India (A Unit of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Trust)

States

Karnataka

Tamil Nadu

Gujarat

Madhya Pradesh

Maharashtra

Punjab

Rajasthan

Uttar Pradesh

Telangana

Launched by Sankara Eye Foundation India (SEFI) in 1990, Gift of Vision is a massive community outreach programme through which SEFI has performed over 2.3 million free Sight-Restoring cataract surgeries thus far and has become one of the major eye care providers in India. The Gift of Vision program operates by integrating with a community, capitalizing on pre-existing community networks and a highly efficient patient care system. It is aimed at reaching out to rural poor at their door step and provide free of cost eye care. It is one of the most far reaching technologically enabled programme, covering rural areas over 500 km radius of Sankara Eye Hospital. Rural outreach camps are organized to identify beneficiaries with vision impairment. The identified beneficiaries are then brought to Sankara Eye Hospital, where they are examined, assessed, surgery performed, medications provided and transported back to their villages the next day. The treatment, transportation, medicines and boarding is provided completely free of cost to the patient. The rationale for keeping the patients for an additional day is to ensure zero post-operative infection. Review camps are conducted after a month of the surgery to ensure zero post-operative complication. Free transport, meals & accommodation for patients at base hospital have helped to overcome the economic barrier to reach out the community on a large scale.