With the sole of aim of gifting sight to unfortunate individuals in a caring and serene atmosphere, Paramahamsa Yogananda Netralaya, founded by Divine Eye Foundation at Vemagiri village near Kadiyam, about 15 km from here, has been serving the poor by performing some 18,000 surgeries per annum. It is a befitting gift to Paramahamsa Yogananda on his 120th birth anniversary on Saturday (January 5) when the Divine Eye Foundation Hospital reaches a mark of treating one million patients in its five years of establishment apart from its original hospital here -- Akira Eye Hospital. According to K.V. Rama Rao, former Head of English Department, and disciple of Yogananda, serving the mankind is one of the eleven ideals that Yogananda set before his organisation -- Yogoda Satsanga Dyana Kendras (YSDK). He said that YSDK here has been reaching out the poor in a number of ways for the last 20 years and Divine Eye Foundation is one of such service centres run by N. Prabhakara Rao, leading ophthalmologist and disciple of Yogananda.
The hospital conducted as many as 463 eye camps and performed 6,000 cataract operations free of cost in the last six years, says Dr. Prabhakar Rao.