WHO WE ARE?
One-third of the world’s blind live in India. The prevalence of blindness among the general population in Maharashtra state is reported as 3.5% in year 2005. There are many cases of undiscovered eye-diseases in the country. 40 million are visually handicapped,12 million are totally blind, “The irony is 80% of them, are either preventable or curable. They are needlessly blind; this is where we come into the picture.” To serve the people of Maharashtra, Rural and Urban, by establishing a not for profit Super Specialty Eye Hospital.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who is commonly referred to as India’s Warren Buffett, is keen to give back to the society by constructing a free eye-care hospital, joined hands with Dr. R.V. Ramani of Sankara Eye Foundation, India along with other like minded people formed R.Jhunjhunwala Sankara Eye Hospital Trust (RJSEHT) for serving the community.
Through RJSEHT, a 100 bedded exclusive Eye Hospital was established in Panvel. In its full capacity, the Hospital will perform 10,000 free eye surgeries annually, for patients primarily from the surrounding villages – Rural Maharashtra. Every year one lakh school children will be screened for undetected visual defects, free of cost and advised corrective measures. Eye Donation and Corneal transplantation will be promoted. Diabetic Retinopathy programme for Rural Maharashtra would be established. Human Resource Development in Community Eye Care would be put in place to provide job-oriented and job-guaranteed vocational training for rural women.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Dr. Ramani along with his wife, Dr. Radha Ramani started a private practice in the memory of his late father, Dr. A. Ramanathan in the year 1972 in Coimbatore. A passion for service led them to receive the blessings and guidance of Sri Kanchi Sankaracharys and they founded Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Centre in the year 1977, a clinic that provided subsidised health care to the poor. This dream led to another – the founding of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Trust in the year 1982 and Sankara Eye Hospitals in the year 1985. The rest is history. His unstinted commitment to the cause and devotion to Sankara has helped to create an enduring legacy.
Dr. R. V. Ramani
Mr. Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala, B. Com., A.C.A., serves as an Executive Officer and Partner of Rare Enterprises He has multifaceted knowledge of the capital markets and related areas, and has decades of extensive experience and expertise in analysing and identifying potential investment opportunities in the Indian Equity Market.
Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
Mr. Radhakrishnan Sundar is a Co-Founder of Mastek Limited (one of the early software companies in India) and currently serves as a Member on the Boards of Majesco Ltd. He serves on the Board of Sankara Eye Foundation, USA engaged in eradicating curable blindness in India. Mr. Sundar graduated in Engineering from NIT, Trichy and has done Post-graduation from IIM, Ahmedabad.
Mr. Radhakrishnan Sundar
Mr. Kacholia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Production Engineering BE (Hons) from KJ Somaiya College of Engineering and a Master’s degree in Management Studies (MMS) from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. He has previously worked at Prime Securities and Edelweiss Capital. Currently, he is an active investor and philanthropist and serves as the Director of Research at Lucky Investment Managers Pvt.
Mr. Ashish Kacholia
Mr. Kalpraj Dharamshi earned his B. Com. from Mumbai University. Since the late 80’s he has largely into Broking & Investing. Currently he serves as the Director at Dharamshi Securities Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. Kalpraj Dharamshi
Mrs Seetha Chandrasekar is a Chartered Accountant by profession. She was inspired by the movement started by Dr R V Ramani and Dr Radha Ramani serving the less privileged sections of society. She joined the Sankara Movement in 2003 and has served as both the Director Finance and as the Hon. Director Partner Relations & Foundation. Her financial expertise & problem-solving skills have been invaluable assets to the organization.
Mrs Seetha Chandrasekar
SERVICES
-
Cataract
Cataract is the opacity (clouding) of eye’s natural lens which is normally transparent. When lens become cloudy, light rays cannot pass through them easily and vision becomes blurred.
Details -
Cornea
The Cornea Clinic at Sankara is equipped with world class infrastructure and is overseen by an expert team of doctors and paramedical staff well versed with management of such complicated scenarios.
Details -
Retina
Retina is the light sensitive layer that lines the back of the eye. The retina acts like the film role of a camera. It receives the image produced by the lens and conveys these signals to the brain. The retina is actually considered to be a part of the central nervous system.
Details -
Glaucoma
Glaucoma can be easily diagnosed with simple and effective tests which can help in quantifying the anatomical as well as functional loss due to the disease. These tests are advised regularly during the follow up visits or when the disease is not under control and help in proper management of the patient.
Details -
Paediatric Opthalmology
Pediatric ophthalmologists focus on the development of the visual system and the various diseases that disrupt visual development in children. Pediatric ophthalmologists also have expertise in managing the various ocular diseases that affect children.
Details -
Eye Bank
The vision of Sankara was born from the need to provide quality eye care to everyone, regardless of socio-economic, religious, linguistic and geographical backgrounds. The primary goal of the Community Eye Health Programme is to fight against preventable and curable blindness.
Details -
Occuloplasty
Occuloplasty is a discipline in ophthalmology that deals with plastic and reconstructive surgery of the peri-orbital and facial tissues which include the eyelids, orbit and lacrimal system.
Details -
Beds Available
Total no of Beds Available - 100 Beds
Beds reserved for Indigent Patients - 80 Beds
DONATE
Non-availability & non-affordability are the main reasons why there is a lack of quality eye care in rural India. We thus follow the 80:20 Model– 20% of the total surgeries will be for the affordable public who can pay and 80% of the total surgeries will be for the economically weaker sections which will be totally free of cost. The revenue generated from the 20% surgeries will subsidize the cost of surgeries for the 80% free. The momentum of this vision is taken forward by the benevolent support of those who contribute financially to Sankara in various capacities. This goes towards our mission of providing affordable quality eye care services.