FOCUS- RAJAN BALA
Imagine a family that is getting ready a fourth
generation of ophthalmologists too take over. It
is the first of its type in the country and second in the world after the Baraquer family on Bogota in Colombia. The fourth
generation of Baraquers os already active in the field. The two families know one another.
The treatment pf the eye is almost synonymous with the Agarwals, though there are other hospitals like Shankar Netralaya in Chennai and Arvind Eye Hospital in Madurai that are also highly respected. But for the Agarwals, it has been a family profession for over 75 years. The family runs as many as a dozen centers, four in Chennai, two in Bangalore and one each in Salem, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Kochi, Hubli and Jaipur.
The beginning of the Agarwal saga has its roots in the search of Dr. R.S. Agarwal, for a guru. This quest made him travel the length and the breadth of the country till he found refuge in Pondicherry where he came into contact with Sri Aurobindo. The meeting
changed his life and he took sanyas and changed his practice from allopathy to naturopathy. However, his gift to the Aurobindo Ashram was the School for Perfect Eyesight.
While the Chennai center is the main one in the chain, it has the unique distinction of being shaped like an eye- architecturally the only one in the world. To the Agarwal, recognition and honours have come thick and fast with the International Council of Ophthalmology recognizing the chain as one of the leading ones in the world.
The chain is acknowledged as one of the pioneers in the field of laser cataract surgery and the state-of-the-art equipment facilities are available.
A heart-warming fact is that free-eye camps and 500 surgeries are performed.
I