Mission

To bring quality eye care to our rural brethren, Sankara Nethralaya in collaboration with IIT, Madras conceived and developed a “Mobile Eye Surgical Unit” (MESU) as the first and only one of its kind in India. The project consists of 3 vehicles – First and Second vehicles were developed in collaboration with IIT Madras. One vehicle (unsterile preparatory vehicle) consists of change room etc. The second van (sterile) consists of the Operation Theatre. The Third vehicle is for transporting people and material. Right now MESU operations are in Chennai, Jharkhand, Hyderabad, Puttaparthi, and Ettayapuram. We have 3 more MESU operations in the pipeline to support indigent blind patients in rural places of India. Nethralaya has five branches in TamilNadu, one in Andhra Pradesh and three in West Bengal. Over the years, Nethralaya treated over a million patients from all over India, and neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Oman, Mauritius, and Saudi Arabia. Daily, they treat 3,000 outpatients and perform 300 surgeries. Fifty percent of outpatients are treated free, and thirty-five percent of the surgeries are performed at no cost to indigent patients. India continues to carry a significant burden of visual impairment, accounting for nearly 20% of the world’s blind population. More than 7 million people in India are blind, and 55 million suffer from moderate to severe visual impairment—most of them living in rural communities. Even more heartbreaking is that over 75% of childhood vision impairment is preventable or treatable. This reality underscores the urgency and importance of our mission. MESU Performance: Chennai Unit: 2,064 surgeries and 17,115 screenings Jharkhand Unit: 1,140 surgeries and 7,078 screenings Hyderabad Unit: 1,726 surgeries and 15,616 screenings Puttaparthi Unit: Launched in March 2025 Ettayapuram Unit: Launched today, December 1, 2025