Coming from the little-known city of Seohara in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district, Vimla Mundra brought to Chennai not only her embroidery skills but also her compassionate spirit.

Having been introduced to Sankara Nethralaya by a relative, Ms. Mundra’s initial association with the institute was restricted to spreading word about the hospital’s quality and affordable eye care services among friends and relatives. This small step would pave way for a bigger one in the early 1990s, when she joined SWAN — Sankara Nethralaya Women Auxiliary — as a volunteer. And there has been no looking back since then. Like any other SWAN volunteer, she has helped the institute in various capacities.

“Extremely satisfied” by the time spent at Nethralaya, the people she meets here and the opportunity to serve others, Ms. Mundra and her family recently donated Rs. 5 lakhs towards dedicating a room in the memory of her father-in-law Shri. Shiv Kumar Mundra, and her husband Shri. Sushil Kumar Mundra. This is not the first time the SWAN volunteer, and her family, is donating to Sankara Nethralaya. “The work Nethralaya undertakes is commendable and we consider ourselves fortunate that we are able to help in our small way.”

Nethralaya is deeply grateful for the thoughtful and benevolent gesture from the Mundra family.

Continuing with the Nethralaya philosophy of community service, Sankara Nethralaya, Rameswaram began offering free services to indigent patients from December 1, 2009.

Rededicating the services, at a function on December 7, 2009 at Rameswaram, Mr. TN Hariharan, District Collector, Ramanathapuram, assured all help to Sankara Nethralaya in creating more awareness about ophthalmic care in Rameswaram and surrounding areas.

Welcoming Sankara Nethralaya’s initiative in providing free services at its Rameswaram branch, Ms. Girija Vaidyanathan, Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission, urged for such quality and affordable ophthalmic services to be spread across
the district.

Sankara Nethralaya Chairman Mr. V Vaidyanathan briefed the gathering on Sankara Nethralaya and the various activities undertaken by the institute. He laid emphasis on the institute’s pillars — patient care, community services, research, teaching & training — which has made Sankara Nethralaya one of the leading eye hospitals in the country.

Sankara Nethralaya at Rameswaram commenced its services — paying-cum-free —in 2007. Keeping in mind the local needs, the hospital decided to rededicate its services as purely community based, thereby offering eye care services free-of-cost, from December 2009.

The hospital also proposes to step up its teleophthalmology services in the district, in a phased manner. In the initial phase, along with the assistance of social workers from the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, a team consisting of optometrists and an ophthalmologist will conduct eye camps thrice a week. Surgeries too will be performed thrice a week.

Residents attending the camp will undergo a comprehensive eye examination. Those who are prescribed glasses will be provided with one at the campsite. Patients who are recommended for cataract surgery will be taken by the Sankara Nethralaya team to the the main hospital at Rameswaram where a free-of-cost cataract surgery, using intraocular lens, will be performed on them. The boarding, transport and food for patients will be borne by Sankara Nethralaya, Rameswaram.

Sankara Nethralaya has been awarded the ‘Social Enterprise of the Year’ at the 5th CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards. Dr. SS Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya, accepted the award on behalf of the institute at a glittering ceremony held in New Delhi on December 3, 2009.

The award is presented to an NGO/CSR initiative that has shown uniqueness in the kind of outreach program it has adopted or in adapting a commercial business model for the purpose of social good & community welfare or in the sheer impact its work has had.

Present on the occasion were Kapil Sibal, Honourable Minister for Human Resource Development, Praful Patel, Minister of State-Civil Aviation and Nandan Nilekani, Head, Unique Identification Database project.

The CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards honoured stalwarts of India Inc., who have emerged as legends in business leadership. The India Business Leader Awards are the most distinguished awards for excellence in leadership in Asia.

The winners were judged by eminent personalities like Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC, Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Ltd. Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, Mr. Uday Kotak, and Mr. Raghav Bahl, Founder Editor, Network18.