Sankara Nethralaya (SN) is a non-profit charity organization providing ophthalmic(eye) care to millions of patients throughout India for the last four decades. SN also provides ophthalmic education and India-centric research. Sankara Nethralaya USA was established back in 1988 to support the mission of Sankara Nethralaya.
The main goal of the Trust was to make our vision known to NRIs and seek their support for the Noble cause. Sankara Nethralaya USA is one of the trusted and well-respected charity organizations in the USA. The Trust also received Charity Navigator’s “Four Stars” highest rating for maintaining financial accountability and fiscal transparency for funds donated by donors and how they are utilized towards the stated cause.
Our two Mobile Eye Surgical Units (MESU) are operation theatres on wheels and have so far screened 110,761 patients and performed 20,407 surgeries in the remote villages of India.
70%of the population of our country lives in rural areas – many of them in accessible tribal areas. 70% of the Ophthalmologists practice in urban cities and towns. Many of the people living in rural areas are daily wage earners. From them to travel to the city will involve (1) expenses for the travel and stay in the city for themselves and an attendant (2) loss of wages for the number of days that they are in the city (3) loss of wages for the attendant. Unable to bear such a financial burden, many of them continue to live with blindness, which could be prevented, especially in the case of cataract.
The MESU project is designed to provide Quality, World-class eye care to the rural population, at their doorsteps, totally free of cost to them. This project is the “FIRST OF ITS KIND IN INDIA” and the only project that has been approved by the Government of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to carry out the Cataract surgeries at the door-step of the rural indigent.
The Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU), was developed in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology and started serving the nation in 2012. A total of 94 camps have been conducted in South India with 13079 surgeries performed since inception.