Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys, has announced its collaboration with Sri Ramakrishna Sevashrama to launch the Shree Sharadadevi Mobile Eye Hospital, a first-of-its-kind fully equipped mobile eye hospital to serve people residing in remote villages in Karnataka. This collaboration is aimed at providing quality eye care to over 5 lakh people, including children and students, in the interior districts of Tumkur, Anantapur, Chitradurga, and Raichur.
The Mobile Eye Hospital will offer screening facilities for ailments such as cataracts, eye tumors, watery eyes, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, squint eye, and retinoblastoma along with ENT and other general diseases. The Sharadadevi Eye Hospital & Research Centre has also been previously supported by Infosys Foundation with the construction of a new wing in 2021. To date, the hospital has performed thousands of eye surgeries.
Sunil Kumar Dhareshwar, Trustee, Infosys Foundation, said, “We are delighted to team up with Shree Sharadadevi Eye Hospital & Research Centre to provide quality eye care to people who have long been deprived of basic healthcare. By bringing technological advancements like the Mobile Eye Hospital right to the doorstep of the underprivileged, we aim to provide support to address the problems of the community and resolve them as efficiently as possible.”
Swami Japananda, Chairman of Shree Sharadadevi Eye Hospital & Research Centre, Pavagada, said, “The eye care situation in India needs betterment with only one ophthalmologist available for nearly one lakh people in our country. The people/children/students living in rural India are deprived of even basic eye care. We thank Infosys Foundation for sponsoring the first ever hi-tech mobile eye hospital in Karnataka state to help thousands of people with eye care in Pavagada (in Tumkur), which has been a predominantly rural and medically deprived area. We hope that with the generous and precious support of Infosys Foundation, we are able to reach the needy patients in other inaccessible and interior parts of the state.”