Surat Doctor Provides Over 30,000 Free Eye Surgeries in Villages

Dr. Bhavin Patel, a retina specialist in Surat, has spearheaded a remarkable initiative, providing over 30,000 free eye surgeries in villages. His commitment stems from witnessing numerous patients at his Surat hospital lose their sight due to delayed treatment, often ignoring blurred vision, dismissing cataracts as old age, or treating infections at home for too long.

Returning to Gujarat in 2008 after training at Sankara Nethralaya, Dr. Patel found Surat with few retina specialists, leading to many conditions progressing beyond recovery. India's national blindness survey from 2015 to 2019 revealed that nearly 93% of blindness is avoidable, with cataracts alone causing over two-thirds of cases. Rural Gujarat faces a particularly high risk due to late diagnosis and low awareness.

To counter this, Dr. Patel established the Swami Vivekananda Netra Mandir Hospital in 2008. His trust, founded in 2021, now organises almost 40 monthly village camps, covering South Gujarat regions like Navsari, Bardoli, Vyara, and Valsad. These camps leverage temple networks to mobilise residents, with teams of eight to ten, including optometrists and trained tribal members, conducting on-site cataract screenings.

Patients requiring surgery are transported to Surat in Drishtiratha vehicles for treatment, which carries no mandatory fee. They receive about four days of inpatient care, including meals, with follow-up services provided back in their villages. Success stories include Nathuram Makwana, 62, of Ahmedabad, who regained faint light in one eye in 2025 after a 2017 injury, and Vihana, a baby diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity, who achieved normal vision after Dr. Patel's operation. Furthermore, in 2025, Dr. Patel helped establish a Surat training centre to teach computer literacy, smartphone use, and mobility to visually impaired individuals, with ten having completed training and twelve currently enrolled.

Why it matters: This initiative offers a replicable model for combating avoidable blindness in rural communities.

Editor's note: The draft captures the essential facts of the doctor's initiative, the scope of the program, and the specific patient examples provided in the full text.