We are thrilled to inform that Sankara Eye Care Institutions has won the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Healthcare Excellence Award in the category “Best Community Driven Healthcare Programme.” The FICCI Healthcare Excellence Awards 2009 aims at recognizing organizations across India that have tried to improve healthcare services to masses; commemorate the increased efficiency and improved performance of healthcare sector and honor those who have resolved key challenges faced by Indian healthcare industry. Managing Trustee of the institutions Dr. R.V. Ramani received the award on Sep 15, 2009 at a function in New Delhi. Minister of State for Health, Mr. Dinesh Trivedi presented the award in the presence of Ms. Shabhana Azmi, actor, MP, and social activist. The contestants included corporate hospitals such as Fortis and Apollo as well as Aravind Eye Hospitals. The event at New Delhi, ‘FICCI HEAL 2009’, was organized by the federation in partnership with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the theme “Future of Healthcare: Integration, Inclusion & Quality – What is Good for Indian Health Care.” The event was attended by 300 invitees. Sankara institutions were praised for their three-decade community eye care. Their Gift of Vision Community Outreach Programme was the unanimous choice of the judges due to the scale achieved by the program with more than five lakh free eye surgeries to-date. This is the second recognition this year for SECI close on the heels of it winning the Asian Management Award. The Minister specifically mentioned Sankara’s strategy of serving the community at large while at the same time making the institution self-sustained and called on other organizations to follow the same methodology. It certainly is a great moment to cherish for the Sankara team in India and US.

The summit organizer NRI institute, a New Delhi-based nonprofit, expressed gratification for the pioneering work the Sankara Eye Foundation is doing and presented an Achievement Award for the organizations work in eradicating curable blindness in India. The NRI Institute has a nearly 30 year history of recognizing Pravasi (non-resident) Indians and people of Indian origin. Past awardees of the institute include, Sam Pitroda, chairman of India's National Knowledge Commission, Lord Swaraj Paul, British parliamentarian and founder of Caparo Group, and Baron Karan Bilimoria of Cobra Beer. The award was delivered on Oct 24th, 2009 at NRI Global Summit 2009 in Milpitas, CA. The other awards for NRI Global Summit 2009 included Vijay Amritraj, Deepti Naval, B.V Jagadeesh, and Vinod Dham..

SEF wins the 2009 InDiya Shine Awards. Members of the public chose SEF as the Best Large Nonprofit in the USA supporting India or serving Indian communities abroad. SEF was recognized on the winners’ page at http://www.greatnonprofits.org/indiya.

The Sankara Family was recognized for its yeomen service both here in the USA and in India in 2008. The two arms of the Sankara family work together towards its goal of Vision 20/20 by the Year 2020. The India arm, Sankara Eye Care Institutions, ably lead by Dr. R. V. Ramani and a great staff, has been providing award-winning service to the poor and managing the hospitals. Sankara Eye Foundation, USA, the US arm, shines due to the dedication of its volunteers and with this dedication has earned its donors’ trust.

SECI started the year by winning the coveted Hospital Management Award in September 2008. In the category of community service Sankara Eye Care Institutions - India were declared winner for the “Diabetic Retinopathy Project for Rural India” project, which aims to prevent avoidable blindness due to Diabetic Retinopathy and create awareness among the rural population about this health problem.

On February 27, 2009, Sankara Eye Foundation, USA received the coveted 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America's largest independent evaluator of charities. Charity Navigator stated that receiving four out of a possible four stars indicates that the organization excels, as compared to other charities in America, in successfully managing the finances of the organization in an efficient and effective manner. This rise in an organization’s rating is an exceptional feat, especially given the economic challenges many charities have had to face in the last year.

On March 30, 2009, SECI, India received one of the highest honors an NGO can receive in India, the NGO of the year award. Sankara Eye Care Institutions, India was recognized for its contribution to community eye care with the India NGO award, 2008. The India NGO Awards seek to promote good standards and practices in resource mobilization, accountability, and transparency and recognize and celebrate excellence in the non-profit sector. The aim is also to create examples and inspiration for other non-profits and promote cross-regional learning and to thus promote the overall credibility of the non-profit sector for long-term sustainability. The awardees were evaluated on, the effective and sustainable mobilization of resources from the local community and demonstration of efficient management of resources, good governance practices, transparency and accountability. Finally, the impact of the services provided to the community was evaluated.

 Tanker Foundation Love for Service Award: Tanker Foundation is a Chennai based Foundation involved in providing free renal dialysis for kidney patients. Every year they identify an individual and award him / her with Tanker Foundation “Renny Abraham Love for Service Award.” This year it was awarded to Dr. R. V. Ramani, Founder, and Managing Trustee of Sankara Eye Care Institutions. The Governor of Tamilnadu and one of the Union Ministers were present on the occasion to give away the Award.

 This is a time for everyone in the Sankara family, including all the volunteers and donors, to take pride in these achievements and  celebrate the performance and the recognition of the dedicated work of our doctors and staff in India. These awards are just small milestones in our path towards eradicating curable blindness in India-, which is the real big award that motivates all of us to progress. Together, we can make it happen!!