Kamala Sundaram Foundation for Twinkling Little Eyes, a not-for-profit body, established in 2005; was born out of the desire expressed by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam (former President of India) on his visit to Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital to put a twinkle in the eyes of the visually impaired. KSF works with a mission to alleviate the suffering of the poor and aims to prevent avoidable blindness through awareness generation, eye screening and providing access to quality eye care at an affordable cost.
The Foundation runs outreach programs in rural and urban slums and tribal areas that strive to provide quality eye care for the underprivileged. With our out-reach programs aiming to redress the suffering of low income groups, marginalized population living in rural and urban slums and tribal areas in our state through free eye camps and free eye treatment.
It has numerous projects focused on creating awareness, screening and providing comprehensive eye care services to prevent avoidable blindness. The organization takes special interest in promoting eye donation.
Kamala sundaram foundation is mainly working in underserved areas of Mumbai and some parts of Maharashtra. The focus areas of field operations are slums of Mumbai, surrounding tribal areas and certain districts in Maharashtra.
- The organisation started its charitable activities with eye screening camps in schools and slum areas. After inception, KSF progressed by initiating two satellite centers in Dharavi and Mankhurd to cater to the eye care needs of the slum population.
- Over the years, the organisation expanded its outreach and has also operated centers in Kandivali and Mulund in the past, extending eye care services to underserved communities across Mumbai.
- In 2010, the foundation embarked on a massive screening campaign in association with the World Diabetes Foundation (Denmark) to combat diabetes-related blindness and to increase awareness in the urban slums of Mumbai. KSF has covered major slum pockets across the 23 wards of Mumbai.
- The organisation has established an Advanced Vitreo Retinal Center in Chembur to provide retinal services at affordable rates.
- It also focuses on research in the field of ophthalmology and has established a Genetic Laboratory to conduct extensive research in eye genetics. In addition, Ophthalmic Image Reading Centers provide high-quality grading of eye images received from remote areas, enabling timely diagnosis and intervention.
- More than 10 million lives touched.
- More than 3,50,000 slum households enumerated.
- More than 3000 cataract and 200 retina free surgeries.
- 2,10,000 slum dwellers have been screened for diabetes.
- 6,189 camps in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra.
- 5,250 diabetics were evaluated for retinopathy.
- “World Diabetes Federation” acclaimed our Diabetic Retinopathy project as one of the top five projects of diabetes care in the world.
- Our work has been highlighted in the International Corner of the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS).