 The Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Trust - Sankara Eye Society, Coimbatore was established in May 1977. Motivated and blessed by the Sankaracharyas of Kanchi, Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Trust has always had the philanthropic philosophy of providing high quality health care, especially eye care to all, either free or at an affordable cost. Though the Trust started its activities as a general health care centre, quality eye care has been its thrust area.
More often than not, visual handicap is completely or partially curable. It is up to us to reach out to the less privileged and make their lives brighter with the Gift of Vision. Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Trust is ample proof to the world that, when like-minded individuals come together and share a common vision, MIRACLES become an everyday affair.
What started as a small medical centre in the premises of the Kamakshi Amman Temple in R.S Puram, Coimbatore, has today grown into a large organisation which has a base hospital and nine medical centres - catering to over 1000 patients everyday. With a workforce of over 130 highly committed doctors, paramedical and support staff who have made the distant dream of a healthier, happier India, a reality for an average Indian.
Board of Trustees
Mr.S.V. Balasubramaniam (President)
Dr. Leela Meenakshi
Dr.P.G. Viswanathan
Mr. N. Natarajan
Dr.S.R. Rao
Dr.R.V. Ramani (Managing Trustee)
Our Partners in Community Eye Care
Sight Savers (U.K.)
Tulsi Trust (Mumbai)
G.V. Easwar and Family
Sankara Eye Foundation, USA |
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It is a sad fact that 1/5 th of the world's population of blind live in India, and 4 million new cases of curable blindness are being added to the existing backlog, annually. To combat this situation, a colossal effort on the part of individuals and organisations is required. Realising this need, Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Trust initiated the formation of Sankara Eye Centre with the following objectives in mind :
- To make readily available cost-effective, quality eye care at the doorstep of rural India.
- To have quality as the sole criterion for all activities, always.
- To organise eye banks and peripheral eye donor forums for different regions of our country.
Bound together with the simple philosophy, Miracles cannot cure the blind, you can.
Eye Bank The Sankara Eye Bank was established in 1987 and is considered the most successful eye bank in the country. In fact, it is recognised by the Government of India as a model eye bank for the Nation. The eye bank, which receives a pair of eyes almost everyday, has carried out over 3500 corneal transplants with local donor material. A founder life member of Eye Bank Association of India, Sankara Eye Bank has been propagating the concept of eye donors' forums for all peripheral towns. Apart from regularly performing Corneal Transplantations, Sankara Eye Centre also provides donor cornea to other eye banks in Madras, Bangalore, Madurai, Cochin and Manipal for emergency transplants.
 Gift of Vision This is a rural Out-Reach Eye Care Program supported by Sight Savers (U.K). It was started as a joint program in 1990 with the active participation of Rotary International and Rotary Coimbatore Central, and covers the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka targeting the economically weaker sections. Systematic preliminary survey of the target population and meticulous post-operative care are the highlights of this program. All patients requiring surgery are brought to the Base Hospital, where accommodation, investigation, surgery, IOL, medicine and food are provided totally free. So far 1845 camps have been conducted, covering a population of over 18 million and around 1,00,956 free surgeries have been performed.
Considering that a major eye surgery would cost a patient Rs.5,000 on an average, a total monetary benefit equivalent to Rs.50 crores has been provided to the needy by Sankara Eye Centre.
 Base Hospital A State-of-the-art eye hospital with ideal infrastructure has been developed on 5.26 acres of gifted land on the outskirts of Coimbatore, with total community participation - individuals, families, philanthropic organisations, service organisations, and corporate organisations, have all played a vital role in building up the institution. In addition, international organisations like Rotary International, Lions International, Round Table, Ladies Circle, Sight Savers (U.K.), Tulsi Trust and Bumga Group of Companies have joined as partners in this ongoing program. The 400 bed hospital has the latest in ophthalmic diagnostic equipment, laser equipment and surgical equipment. 90% of the beneficiaries are "Gift of Vision" rural patients to whom all the services are provided totally free. The rest, who pay according to their economic background, are provided with high quality eye care at subsidised charges.
Here are some of the innovative programs conducted by Sankara Eye Centre with community participation.
- Vandematharam - A program conceived in 1987, to commemorate the 40th year of our independence. This program is for the freedom fighters to whom eye care and urological care are provided totally free.
- Rainbow An Eye Screening Program for school children to detect undetected visual defects. Around 2 million children in the districts of Coimbatore, Palghat and Dindigul have been screened. This highly result-oriented program is being adopted by the Maharashtra Government and service organisations in Calcutta and 24 Parganas. Recently, children of Lagos State of Nigeria were screened with the help of Sankara Eye Centre.
- Irul Neeki A comprehensive eye care program for the tribals of Coimbatore.
- Kannoli A Comprehensive eye care program for the urban slums in Coimbatore District.
- Gift of Sight, Cambodia A program executed a couple of years ago with Rotary Club Singapore for the benefit of the people of Cambodia. Eye surgeons from Sankara Eye Centre, Coimbatore went over to Phnom Phen, established a surgical theatre in a local mission hospital, performed a few hundred surgical operations and also trained the Cambodian eye surgeons in modern micro surgery.
- Eye Care, Nepal A team from Sankara Eye Society went to Kathmandu last year, to perform eye surgeries at the Nepal Eye Foundation and to train the local eye surgeons.
- Vandematharam Bharat Vision Commemorating the 50th year of India's independence, this program was initiated in April '97 where surgeries were performed at various centres such as Ratura in Uttar Pradesh (200), Madhubani in Bihar (624), Behrampur in Orissa (150), Mumbai in Maharashtra (225), Khammam in Andhra Pradesh (203). Under this program, Nasik in Maharashtra and Mount Abu in Rajasthan have been selected for initiating community eye care programs. A team from Sankara Eye Society visited these places, conducted out-reach programs, performed surgeries and trained the local medical and para-medical personnel, thus creating an environment for the implementation of quality community eye care programs in these needy regions of our motherland.
- Village Adoption Program Along with Tulsi Trust, the village adoption program was initiated 7 years ago, in 10 villages around Coimbatore for a population of 30,000. Health care, education, water supply and income generation for women are the thrust areas of this project.
- Preventive eye care for industrial workers A comprehensive program to check the vision of the industrial workers and executives, apart from hypertension and diabetes detection, is being pursued by Sankara Eye Centre since 10 years. Employees of Brooke Bond India Ltd., Coimbatore have already been covered under this program.
- Sankaram An extensive network of regional groups of like-minded individuals in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka is being established to organise the out-reach program on a long term basis.
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