MD's Desk

It gives me pleasure to present to you an overview of thirty years of Venu Charitable Society’s work of serving the needy.

Three decades ago a philanthropist and a great visionary laid the seed of what is today known as Venu Eye Hospital & Research Centre. Late Dr. R.K. Seth, an eminent Ophthalmologist and Founder of Venu Charitable Society, realized the limitations of a private practice. His desire to spread its reach to the needy, overarching social and economic hurdles, resulted in the creation of Venu.

Whilst there were a number of eye camps being conducted in such areas, those referred to the clinic for further surgery or treatment would seldom turn up, the reason being the distance involved and the need for escorts to accompany the patient. He soon realized that if the benefit was to reach to such needy people, it would not suffice to merely hold eye camps but take it a step further and create permanent peripheral clinics which would address this felt need of a very deprived section of society. Thus, the first clinic — an OPD at Najafgarh, which followed a cyclic pattern to cater for the rush of patients with limited resources. After surgery, the patient had to only report for follow up to the local clinic, on the day of the weekly visit by the Venu team. This approach is today being followed by Vision Centers across India.

At clinics where the inflow of patients was higher than what could be handled by the Visiting Team, Dr. Seth felt the need to make a permanent surgical center, and thus evolved the secondary Satellite Hospitals, the first of which was started in 1993.

Today, as we look around, we see a proliferation in health care and related sectors. The government, along with the insurance and private sectors are also investing into the health awareness and industry. With our burgeoning population, it is definitely a need of the hour. Most sectors have kept pace with technology and have kept themselves abreast with the best in the world, but unfortunately, the availability of services are skewed. As such, care is mostly available in the urban centers with the rural areas being largely neglected in spite of the Great Indian Growth Story.

Perhaps, nowhere is it so acutely felt as in the eye care sector. The official census research estimated that there are about 1,200,000 blind people living in India, of which more than 90% live in rural areas. With an increasing life expectancy and the exploding population, the numbers of blind in India was estimated to increase by 20% by 2020. However, over 80% of this blindness is treatable.

Even though there is a tremendous growth in eye care service delivery, the services are limited not just geographically, but also in affordability, to a few. The irony is the unwanted suffering of the vast majority of patients. It is this gap that Venu seeks to address.

The last decade has seen a drastic change in the causes of blindness in India. While cataract continues to be the major cause of blindness, emerging diseases like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, etc. are adding to the burden of avoidable blindness. Under the circumstances the eye care delivery system has undergone a sea change, especially at the primary and secondary level.  Camp approach is replaced with permanent daily clinics with additional services of tele-ophthalmology to help bring super specialty management to the doorstep of the patients.

Venu today has 5 Satellite Hospitals and 7 Vison Centers in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Rajasthan. The Base Hospital at New Delhi is a referral and teaching hospital for all cadres of eye care personnel.

Venu Eye Hospital & Research Centre is today recognized as a leading Eye Hospital in India. It has made quality eye care available, accessible, affordable and sustainable for over three decades. A total of 67,65,695 patients have been treated till date of whom 55,01,216  have been treated free of cost.

Last year Venu contributed to 0.544% of the country’s total eye care. All this has been possible because of the trust and faith of our patients and donors, and the sheer hard work and dedication of our staff.

I sincerely thank all and hope their guidance and support will grow with each passing year and help us realize our Founder, Late Dr. R. K. Seth’s dream that no one need go blind because of the lack of quality eye care.

Ms. Tanuja Joshi
Managing Director – Venu Eye Hospital
Secretary – Venu Charitable Society