30,000 free surgeries and 40 camps a month: Surat doctor brings eye care to Gujarat’s villages

For some patients, the hardest part of saving their eyesight is not the treatment. It is getting to a doctor before the condition becomes serious. In remote parts of Gujarat, travel costs, low awareness and the difficulty of reaching specialists lead many people to delay their eye check-ups.

arrive at a hospital, damage that could have been prevented may already be permanent. Dr Bhavin Patel, a retina specialist in Surat, has spent years working on this problem. Instead of waiting for patients to find their way to a hospital, he has helped build an outreach system that takes screening into villages and brings those who need treatment to Surat.

According to The Better India’s report, the initiative has performed more than 30,000 free surgeries and runs nearly 40 screening camps every month. What causes the problem Dr Patel began practising in Surat in 2008, in a clinic focused on retinal care. Over time he met patients whose conditions had worsened because they could not get timely treatment.

Some had ignored blurred vision, while others struggled to afford specialist consultations or the trip to larger hospitals. For serious retinal conditions, such delays can have lasting consequences. The national picture shows why early diagnosis matters. A survey conducted between 2015 and 2019, found that 92.