Bengaluru, July 2022: Canara Bank has now extended its support to Sankara Eye Hospitals’ ‘Gift of Vision Program’ under its CSR initiative. Learning about the impact of this highly efficient social cause, Canara Bank decided to support the initiative by providing three buses for outreach patients’ transportation and funding the Infrastructure & Instrumentation for one operation theatre at Sankara Eye hospitals, Bengaluru. Shri. L. V. Prabhakar, Managing Director & CEO of Canara Bank handed over the cheque of Rs. 78.4 Lakhs towards this initiative to Dr. R. V. Ramani, Founder & Managing Trustee, Sankara Eye Hospitals, in the presence of Dr. Y. Umesh, Chief medical officer, and Mr. Gnanasekaran, Unit Head, Sankara Eye Hospitals.
Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan, former Executive Director, Canara Bank, Dr. Radha Ramani, Co-founder, Sankara Eye Foundation, Dr. Kaushik Murali, President Medical Administration of Sankara Eye hospitals were also present to witness this prestigious moment.
Launched in 1990, The Gift of Vision program operates by integrating with the community, capitalizing on pre-existing community networks and a highly efficient patient care system that aims at reaching out to rural poor at their door step and provide quality eye care, free of cost.
Shri. L V Prabhakar, Managing Director & CEO of Canara Bank, said, “Giving is something that is central to our culture and we have been constantly supporting various hospitals, particularly during the pandemic times. Eye health and vision rehabilitation ensures that people can pursue their dreams. By supporting the Gift of Vision program, we want to ensure that healthcare reaches the doorstep of anyone in need, thereby bridging the urban-rural gap and bringing eye care closer to people.”
Dr. R.V. Ramani, Founder & Managing Trustee, Sankara Eye Hospitals, said,” We are seeing a huge unmet eye care need in the country. Distance has been a barrier for the blind or visually impaired to access our rehabilitation clinic from other parts of the state. We are now taking this very seriously with no compromise on the quality of infrastructure. With the support of Canara Bank, we aim to expand manifold eye screening programs in rural areas thereby providing high-quality eye care to everyone irrespective of their socio-economic status.”
The Gift of Vision Program covers rural areas over a 400-km radius of Sankara Eye Hospitals located across the country. Rural outreach camps are organized to identify beneficiaries with vision impairment. The identified beneficiaries are then brought to Sankara Eye Hospitals, where they are examined, assessed, undergo surgery if needed, receive medications and transported back to their villages the next day. The treatment, transportation, medicines and boarding are provided completely free of cost to patients. Review camps are conducted after a month of the surgery to ensure zero post-operative complications. 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.
