I am Rtn. Dr. R. V. Ramani, Past President of Rotary Club of Coimbatore Central, which is the first Rotary Club to become 100 % Paul Harris Fellow Club. In 1980, I was a Group Study Exchange Team Member and after returning to India, I joined Rotary Coimbatore Central. Our Institution, Sankara Eye Care Institutions- India, in association with Rotary is involved in Avoidable Blindness Programme over the past 2 decades.Our activities in the field of Avoidable Blindness started as early as 1990, when our club received the 3 H support for our "Gift of Vision" rural outreach eye care programme. As per our commitment to Rotary Foundation, even after the first 5 years of the successful completion of the programme, we are continuing with the "Gift of Vision" rural out reach eye care programme.You will be glad to know that over the past 18 years, a rural population of 40 million has been covered and presently we are performing around 400 free eye surgeries every day. During the weekend camps we screen around 5000 patients in different camp sites. We are presently covering the States ofTamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Pondicherry, Andhrapradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The patients are being provided with transportation, accomodation, investigations, surgery, IOL, medicines, food and followup totally free of cost. We are involving the Rotray Clubs in the respective ares as co-sponsors in this Avoidable Blindness programme. Rotarians get directly involved in our out reach programmes.It is indeed my pleasure to have shared this information with you, since you are spearheading the avoidable blindness programme.
Thanking you
With warm regards
Yours in Rotary
Rtn. Dr. R. V. Ramani