RV Ramani, founder and Managing Trustee of Sankara Eye Foundation, has been awarded Padma Shri in recognition of his work in the field of medical services.

Ramani and his wife Radha, both doctors, initiated the movement four decades ago, providing services in a honorary capacity.

Sankara Eye Hospitals works on an 80:20 ratio, providing world-class eyecare with a social impact. Eighty per cent of the beneficiaries are the underprivileged who receive treatment for free, while the remaining 20 per cent pay for their treatment, cross-subsidising and enabling the hospital to be self-sustaining.

Sankara Eye has so far performed 1.8 million free eye surgeries. The rural outreach eyecare programme, Gift of Vision, initiated in 1990 along with Rotary Coimbatore Central is today spread over 92 districts in seven States in India.

Gift of Vision has so far conducted over 26,138 rural outreach camps, screened 4.8 million people and performed over 1.8 million free vision restoration surgeries. Rainbow, a preventive eye-care programme for children started in the year 1996, has screened over 6 million school children for undetected visual defects and provided care — everything from spectacles to surgery — wherever required.

Reacting to the recognition, Ramani said: “Awards and recognitions are morale boosters, not only for the individual, but also for the movement. This award will encourage Team Sankara to reach greater heights.”