This Eye Hospital In Karnataka Brings A Ray Of Hope To Children From India And Developing Nations Who Cannot Afford Expensive Eye Surgery
Usha Kiran Eye Hospital and Charitable Trust is helping lakhs of children around the world regain their vision.
By Anubha Jain
Published : May 22, 2026 at 2:35 PM IST
With a mission to provide affordable cataract care to the poor, initiated in the 1990s, Usha Kiran Eye Hospital and Charitable Trust has evolved into an established centre for paediatric eye care, especially for children with serious eye disorders. Over the past three decades, the hospital has restored vision to underprivileged children across India and several developing countries, viz., Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, The Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Nigeria, Honduras and Zambia, through free and affordable treatments.
At a time when this field was specialised yet largely neglected, the hospital was founded in 1995 by Dr K.V. Ravishankar and Dr Uma Ravishankar. It launched school screening programmes for low-income families and began treating complex childhood eye disorders.
Village Outreach Camps To Advanced Paediatric Eye Care
From a small institution in Mysuru, Usha Kiran Eye Hospital built its foundation through outreach camps across the southern districts of Karnataka, specifically Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, and Kodagu, identifying underserved patients who needed eye treatment. Patients were brought to the hospital, operated free of cost or provided subsidised care, and safely returned to their villages. Over the years, the hospital evolved from village cataract camps into a well-equipped surgical centre for paediatric eye care.
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat’s Anubha Jain, Dr Uma and Dr KV Ravishankar discussed the inspiration behind the mission. “We were trained at Sankara Nethralaya as retinal specialists and paediatric ophthalmologists under the leadership of Dr S.S Badrinath. His philosophy was to provide high quality, compassionate care to all patients, irrespective of their ability to pay, with advanced treatment delivered as subsidised care. This inspired us to emulate his model, in our small way, through the institution we envisioned,” they said.
Addressing India’s Cataract Burden
About the scale of rural blindness, Dr Uma noted that in 1995, there were over 25 million cataract cases in India, with around 9,000 ophthalmologists trained at the time, of whom only about 50% were actively practising eye surgery. “We realised there was an enormous cataract backlog in the country, and this led us to contribute by performing surgeries and to start rural eye care services. In our hospital, over 25,000 patients received surgical treatment, with a three-day post-operative stay and arranged transport back to their villages. It was a satisfying experience, since we could touch the tip of the iceberg of the cataract burden. We gradually shifted focus towards paediatric eye care, which was another underserved area,” she said.
Dr Ravishankar added that even today, India still has a cataract backlog of around 11 million cases. However, the number of available specialists has also increased significantly, with nearly 30,000 ophthalmic surgeons in India. Of these, at least 20,000 are actively performing surgeries regularly, making the burden far more manageable than before. “Access has improved considerably across India. Even in talukas, there are now well-equipped hospitals and eye specialists,” he pointed out.
Two Decades Of Subsidised Surgeries
This scheme reportedly functions without support from Ayushman Bharat, with treatment costs being borne by the Trust, donors and partner organisations. Dr Ravishankar said that these surgeries are expensive, and sustaining such work for over two decades has certainly been challenging.
But this journey has been possible because donors include individuals, corporate entities, foundations in India and abroad, as well as organisations like Rotary Foundation and several Rotary Clubs. “We also receive limited overseas funding through our FCRA-licensed organisation. Raising resources is an ongoing effort that requires constant engagement,” he added.
Dr Uma noted that creating awareness about eye disorders is equally important because many of these conditions are treatable if identified early, and families are guided to the right institutions and outreach programmes.
Treating Deserving Children
Many hospitals today focus on commercially viable treatments, but Usha Kiran chose to move towards a specialised, demanding yet largely neglected field of paediatric ophthalmology at the time. When asked what made them realise that children with congenital and complex eye disorders required urgent attention, Dr Ravishankar said, “When we started the hospital in 1995, we began receiving many paediatric referrals. At that time, there were very few centres performing active paediatric eye surgeries, so most children had to be referred to other cities. We started seeing children who needed urgent care. Eye care for kids is far more complex and expensive, unlike adults, who can often be operated on under local anaesthesia; children require general anaesthesia and meticulous perioperative management.”
They envisioned the long-term impact: these children, treated early, could go on to live 70-80 years or more, making the intervention highly meaningful in terms of lifelong outcomes. The burden was not small: around one in 500 to 600 children required significant surgical attention. “As adult cataract surgery had already become more widely addressed in India, we decided to focus on this more challenging area,” he added.
Free Treatment For Children
Nearly 5 lakh children were provided with over 15,000 free spectacles and over 2,000 children from economically weaker backgrounds underwent surgeries. Asked how these children are identified, and how challenging it is to provide free or subsidised surgery for conditions like congenital cataracts, squints, drooping eyelids, tear duct blockages, eye tumours, retinal disorders and retinoblastoma, Dr. Ravishankar said they had a good system already in place.
Under its school screening programme run with Sri Vivekananda Sevashrama, doctors and paramedical teams visit schools across Karnataka to identify children with vision problems. Around 60-75 camps are conducted annually, screening nearly 600-800 children a day. Children requiring glasses receive them within days, while those with serious conditions are referred to the base hospital for further treatment.
Amongst children needing surgeries, about 35% are for congenital or developmental cataract, including trauma-related cases. Another 35% are to correct a squint (misalignment of the eyes), though only a fraction undergo surgery due to social fears and lack of awareness. Around 10% of surgical cases are due to drooping eyelids, and another 10% are related to disorders such as blocked tear ducts and infections. The remaining cases include rare but serious conditions such as retinoblastoma (childhood eye cancer), congenital glaucoma, and various developmental abnormalities of the eye. While not all conditions are curable, the team focuses on early diagnosis, treatment where possible, and counsels families on education options and support systems.
Taking Paediatric Eye Care To Africa
It is challenging to perform complex paediatric eye surgeries in low-resource settings where awareness, early diagnosis, follow-up care and access to advanced medical equipment are often limited. However, Dr Ravishankar said their work has been driven largely by a passion to take on difficult challenges beyond routine practice.
He noted that while India has made significant progress in eye care, many African countries continue to face a severe shortage of eye specialists, more so paediatric ophthalmologists, especially outside capital cities. During outreach visits, his team spends nearly 10 days performing 60-70 major surgeries under general anaesthesia. “Around 80,000 children with birth-related cataracts in Sub-Saharan Africa are still waiting for surgery. The need is huge,” he said.
Early Detection Of Eye Disorders
Dr Ravishankar said early diagnosis is very important in children's eye disorders. Apart from doctors, infants' parents or even grandparents also play a vital role in detecting symptoms. “Usually, the pupils appear black or dark brown. But if there is a white reflex or an unusual colour, this condition could mean serious diseases like cataracts and even retinoblastoma. If they see droopy eyelids, tearing, or both eyes not coordinating while moving, then parents should consult an ophthalmologist without delay,” he said.
He emphasised the need for eye testing at the preschool and even at the Anganwadi level, where several problems could be detected if kids were checked from 3-5 years of age. The most common problem among children is refractive error, affecting around 4-5% of children. “If children sit very close to a television screen, or if they have trouble seeing things clearly, one must not ignore them. In many cases, a simple solution like glasses could fix their vision problems,” Dr Ravishankar added.
Dr Uma further pointed out that several eye disorders, including cataract in children, squint and some serious diseases, can be hereditary. She advised families with a history of eye disorders to undergo proper genetic counselling, especially in cases of consanguineous marriages. “Many eye diseases are irreversible if detected late. That is why regular and annual eye check-ups are important for everyone, irrespective of age,” she said.
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