Dear Well-wisher

Greetings from the Medical and Vision Research Foundation Sankara Nethralaya, in our silver jubilee year. Now 25 years on, we have grown to the extent of being recognized as the leading ophthalmology centre in India and also as an institution of National importance by the Government of India. Last year we were ranked top eye hospital in a nation–wide survey of best Indian hospitals. Half a million out patients are attended to yearly and 26,000 major operations performed last year, nearly half of all services being provided free of charge. We are also the first eye hospital in Asia to receive the ISO 9002:1994 certification in 1997 and recently received the ISO 9001: 2000 from BVQI.

It is a matter of pride that out of 300 odd peer reviewed research publications in India over the last 9 years one third of these are from our institution. State-of-the-art facilities to perform the latest molecular biological techniques are available in our laboratories and we have collaboration with several well-known universities, pharmaceutical companies and ophthalmic hospitals within the country and outside. The assistance we render to replicate ophthalmic hospitals as centers of excellence within India and abroad is an affirmation of the importance we place on sharing, establishing and maintaining the highest degree of excellence in ophthalmic care. We have strong education training culture and our centre is internationally recognized for its clinical and research excellence.

We salute you on this occasion and express our sincere thanks to you and the entire community of well-wishers. Your unstinted cooperation and support all through these years have brought us to where we are today. We have many miles to go as you would appreciate with the continued advancement of technology in this field.

Our Mission is to serve the society:

In pursuit of our mission we have many projects of significance dedicated to the community adding value to our repertoire of services – Telemedicine, Computer Vision Clinic, exclusive Pediatric ophthalmology project, a new outpatient unit in the south of Chennai city, to cite a few. We appeal to you to be a part of our Mission. There are many schemes awaiting your support in this silver jubilee year.

Do take a little time to study the various schemes listed in the next page and decide how to team up whole heartedly with us in our mission for vision. Also spread this message of goodwill to your family, friends and associates. The members of the Nethralaya family look up to your mite as always since Sankara Nethralaya is an institution “of the community, by the community and for the community”.