A vision for compassion – Sankara Nethralaya / A Mahalingam

A vision for compassion – Sankara Nethralaya

This is the story of the dedication and passion of one person, Dr S S Badrinath, the founder of the now world-famous Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai, and his years of selfless service, professionalism, hard work and excellence, that has transformed his effort into a state-of-the-art eye institute.
Sankara Nethralaya is not the typical eye clinic. It’s a centre of excellence boasting of a large team of dedicated specialists and researchers whose aim is to provide cutting-edge technology to the rich and the poor. The essence of this institute is that they provide the same treatment to those who can afford, and to those who can’t. A not-for-profit organisation of this kind survives by meeting running costs through internal accruals, and by seeking donations and funding for expansion. Considering that the institute has won major accolades and quality certifications from India and abroad, it’s an enormous achievement.
Besides being an excellent eye surgeon whose list of patients includes former presidents of India, chief ministers and numerous VIPs from India and abroad, Dr Badrinath is known as an extremely softspoken, courteous and upright person. The list of his achievements is endless—be it patents in microbiology and stem-cell culture, development of eye antibiotics, or research papers in Ophthalmology. The Nethralaya takes pride in training doctors, and although no offspring institute comes close to the original, inspired by it, a number of smaller centres of excellence have come up all over India.
The centre today stands out as one of the best managed and most advanced eyecare centres in India and is comparable to the best in the world.
The book In-Sight is well written, and the authors have captured the essence of Sankara Nethralaya as India’s premier centre for excellence in scientific and compassionate eyecare services with unparalleled professionalism and technological advancement. It captures the opinions of various people whose lives have been touched by the magnanimity of Dr Badrinath, from Deepak Parekh to Gopalkrishna Gandhi,  Mallika Srinivasan to N Murali, Dr P C Reddy to Rahul Bajaj. It is a must read for people from the NGO and medical services sectors.
The reviewer is a Senior Consultant Eye Surgeon at Max Hospital, New Delhi
http://newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/books/article385885.ece