Sankara currently operates 13 eye hospitals in India. Our mission is to eliminate curable blindness across India by scaling to 20 Sankara Community Eye Hospitals serving over a million rural poor every year.
India is home to the largest population of ?curable blind? worldwide. According to WHO (2010), an estimated 63 million people in India are visually impaired, and of these, approximately 8 -12 million are blind.
Sankara operates super specialty eye care hospitals with most modern infrastructure and comprehensive range of eye care services. Sankara serves and provides value to two distinct markets: Free eye care for the rural poor through outreach: Sankara caters to villages located within 200 km radius of the base hospital. The rural poor are screened by Sankara staff at the villages and those requiring surgery are taken to the hospital for treatment. The entire treatment including surgery, stay, food and transportation (to and from the village) is provided for free. Affordable premium eye care for the urban middle class (a $3 billion market): Sankara?s paying section offers highest quality eye care with highly experienced medical staff for the urban middle class ? premium services at affordable prices. Surplus from 1 paid surgery allows for 4 free surgeries for the rural poor, and ensures financial sustainability in its mission to eliminate curable blindness across India.