Date:31/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/31/stories/2005103107460200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Dedicated to eye care

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: To the south of the city is coming up a hospital dedicated to preventing blindness; surgery and treatment will be free for 70 per cent of the patients.

On Friday, Governor T.N. Chaturvedi laid the foundation stone for Sankara Eye Hospital, close to Marathahalli.

The hospital is the latest in a chain founded by a trust supported by the Bannari Amman Group of Industries, Coimbatore.

Two other hospitals are functioning at Coimbatore and Krishnan Kovil in Tamil Nadu. Another one is in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

The Chairman and Managing Director of the Group, S.V. Balasubramaniam, told The Hindu that Rs. 10 crores will be spent for the hospital here which is to have 250 beds to start with.

"As in other hospitals, we will recruit doctors and paramedical personnel locally and train them in specialised eye care.

"The hospital in Bangalore will eventually become our training centre too,'' he explained.

Close to one fifth of the world's blind are estimated to be in India and some of it is preventable or reversible with proper medical care, he said.

Around 45 million people in India are visually impaired in some way and an equal number totally blind according to the World Health Organisation.