The Bihar government has teamed up with the Sankara Eye Foundation to establish a state-of-the-art eye hospital in the capital city, Patna. The MoU was signed by Sanjay Kumar Singh, Secretary of the Health Department, and Padma Shri Dr R.B. Ramani, Managing Director of the Sankara Eye Foundation India, in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
This upcoming facility will provide free treatment to 75 per cent of its patients. Those with an annual income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh will qualify for free care, while others will need to pay for the services.
The initiative aims to enhance access to advanced eye care for economically disadvantaged individuals in the region.
With Chief Minister Nitish Kumar overseeing the agreement, the path has been cleared for the establishment of a state-of-the-art eye hospital, Shankara Netralaya, in Kankarbagh, Patna.
The Bihar government has transferred 1.6 acres of land to the Sankara Eye Foundation India at the token money of Rs 1 for 99 years.
During the previous cabinet meeting, the Bihar government also sanctioned Rs 48 crore to transfer the land from the Bihar State Housing Board to the Health Department.
The hospital, designed to be a super-specialty facility, is expected to be completed within 18 months. The Coimbatore-based Sankara Eye Foundation, renowned for its expertise in ophthalmology, will lead the project.
Health Minister Mangal Pandey called the collaboration a significant achievement, crediting the prompt action of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar following an initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Once completed, the hospital is anticipated to provide world-class eye care services, addressing a critical need for advanced ophthalmological treatment including Retina detachment and eye cancer apart from normal eye diseases in Bihar and benefitting countless residents.
During the occasion, Pratyay Amrit, the development commissioner of Bihar welcomed the Chief Minister and other dignitaries like Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Water Resource Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Health Minister Mangal Pandey and many other guests.
About Sankara Nethralaya
Sankara Nethralaya, a not-for-profit charitable hospital, embarked on a relentless journey on September 6, 1978 to provide world-class tertiary eye care in India. Its growth since then has been phenomenal — thanks to the unconditional and generous support received from all quarters of society.
It enjoys accreditation by the national board of accreditation for health care providers, (NABH) the highest quality certification in this category in India.
Sankara Nethralaya has its main campus and 4 centers at Chennai of which one is an exclusive community hospital, two major facilities and one OP clinic at Kolkata, one at the Sri City Special Economic Zone at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. It has over 106 eye care professionals examining around 2,400 patients and performing around 200 surgeries on an average every day across its centers. The institution treats almost 50% of its patients in the outpatient department and performs 34% of surgeries totally cost free, this includes the large number of patients calling at its various centers, those screened at the outdoor eye screening camps and ‘on the spot’ cataract surgeries performed at the ‘one of its kind in Asia’ ‘Mobile Eye Surgical Unit’ (MESU).Donations received have helped to cater to the medical and post-operative needs of indigent patients.
At the heart of every endeavour of Sankara Nethralaya is a strong focus and emphasis on community service, which has been vehemently pursued over the years. The community service initiatives include conducting eye-camps in rural areas, conducting free surgeries to those with an income of less than Rs. 20,000 per month, through the Jaslok Community Ophthalmic Centre, and successfully and relentlessly taking mobile eye surgical unit (MESU) benefits to the door steps of the poor in rural India. All of this has been possible due to the tremendous support that we have received from organizations and individuals over the years.
Cost free treatment is not confined to simple cataract surgeries and the most complex surgeries are performed at no cost to indigent patients. Among the earliest eye hospitals in the country, it has been rated as ‘Best Hospital in ophthalmology’ by the Week-Nielsen/Hansa national survey for healthcare providers, consecutively from 2002- 2014, ‘Best Ophthalmic Hospital’ by the ICICI-Lombard-CNBC-NDTV-18 healthcare survey from 2009-2013 and ‘Best Hospital Unit in Ophthalmic care’ by CIMS Medica for years 2016 and 17.
