Vision on Wheels: Sankara Eye Hospital's Path to Accessible Eye Care
By Arunima Rajan
In an interview with Arunima Rajan, Gannamraju Viswamohan Unit Head, Sankara Eye Hospital, Hyderabad discusses their impactful community work, collaborations, and the hospital’s vision for the future.
How did the collaboration with Chola MS General Insurance for the donation of a bus come about, and what impact do you expect it to have on your outreach efforts?
Chola has seen our community work for many years and reached out to us for any required support couple of year ago. They funded a bus for Ludhiana 2 years ago and now a bus for Hyderabad unit. All the corporates need a good CSR implementation partner and for many of them the search ends with Sankara.
Transporting rural patients is a significant step in improving accessibility. What challenges have you faced in reaching underserved communities, and how does this initiative address them?
The flagship program of Sankara is the Gift of Vision program that began 40 years ago. We work in close coordination with local authorities and local village leaders after getting necessary government approvals wherever necessary. Creating awareness is done by door-to-door screening programs & publicity before the camp.
Sankara Eye Hospital has conducted over 2.7 million free eye surgeries. What drives this scale of impact, and how do you sustain such a large operation?
Our Vision drives us every day and the real-life transformation we see after a vision is restored motivates us to keep going further. The sustainability is based on a 80:20 model, wherein the 20% of paid patients cross-subsidize the balance 80% of the poor people who can’t afford to pay for their services.
India still faces significant eye health challenges. How does Sankara Eye Hospital complement or fill the gaps left by public healthcare systems?
Through Gift of Vision Program to reach the remote villages which is Tier-3, reach the tier-2 population through vision centres and at the base hospital for people who are in the local catchment area near our 14 hospitals.
The hospital conducts over 10,000 rural outreach camps annually. Can you share the process behind identifying patients in remote areas who require advanced care?
We work in close coordination with the District Blindness Control Society (DBCS) for which the District Collector is the Chairperson. They have data of the cataract prevalence in all the rural villages across India in each district. This data serves as a guiding tool and we do our own research wherein the intervention & support is required and plan the camps accordingly to have the right impact in the right areas.
Cutting-edge technology plays a significant role in modern healthcare. How has Sankara Eye Hospital integrated advanced tools to enhance the effectiveness of its programs?
We keep updating the healthcare equipment and modern IT technologies at a clinical level, process implementation and in our daily operations.
Collaborations like this donation are transformative. What role do private sector partnerships play in advancing the hospital’s mission to eliminate preventable blindness?
We become the CSR implementation partner for our CSR donor partners. Because of their support we can increase the footprint across India, build capacity and reach out to more needy population
Sustainability is crucial for large-scale healthcare initiatives. How does Sankara Eye Hospital ensure that its free services remain accessible while maintaining high-quality care?
Sankara invests and appreciates the continuous R & D which is required to stay contemporary, attract the right talent and deliver high-levels of quality care. The leadership & the like-minded team committed to our mission is also a critical aspect of sustaining to our best practices adhered to excellence in quality framework. This is also made possible due to a robust internal auditing mechanism & SOPs for all units/functions across Sankara
With over four decades of service, what are the key lessons you’ve learned about running a super speciality hospital that focuses on underserved populations?
Change is the only constant and hence the PESTEL elements need to be taken care with changing times, based on which the framework needs modification to stay contemporary with changing times but without diluting or deviating from the core VISION/MISSION.
Looking ahead, what is Sankara Eye Hospital’s vision for the next decade in terms of expanding its outreach and ensuring that no patient is left behind?
Our mission is to reach half a million free eye surgeries per year from 2030.