An artist’s impression of the Mukundapur hospital

Sankara Nethralaya Chennai will be back in town with a full-fledged eye hospital by March next year, after a brief break.

The 50,000-sq-ft hospital, coming up in Mukundapur, off EM Bypass, is the result of an agreement signed between Sankara Nethralaya (Medical Research Foundation, Chennai) and Paschim Banga Rajya Pratibandhi Sammilani, an NGO, which was granted the 0.55-acre plot by the state.

“The hospital will have facilities for comprehensive ophthalmic care, with all the sub-specialities like retina, glaucoma, paediatric ophthalmology, squint, cornea transplant and diabetic retinopathy. There will also be a wing for community ophthalmology work,” Lingam Gopal, the chairman of Sankara Nethralaya, tells Metro from Chennai.

The G+5 building has been conceptualised, designed and will be executed by MedicaSynergie Pvt Ltd, local partners of Sankara Nethralaya in the project. “We have done the design according to the template provided by Sankara Nethralaya and we hope to complete construction by March, 2008,” says Alok Roy, the chairman and managing director, MedicaSynergie.

For the Chennai hospital, headed by eye surgeon S.S. Badrinath, this will be the second coming to Calcutta. The Southern group was part of the Rotary Narayana Sankara Nethralaya eye hospital in Sector V, Salt Lake, a tripartite venture also involving Rotary International and Asia Heart Foundation (AHF), launched in March 2003.

It is learnt that Sankara Nethralaya walked out of the venture over differences with AHF, chaired by cardiac surgeon Devi Shetty.

The Mukundapur eye hospital, being built at a cost of Rs 20 crore, will introduce a tele-ophthalmology facility through which doctors can be in direct touch with the Chennai headquarters, says Gopal.

As a stop-gap arrangement, the group has started a clinic for outpatients at 10 Raja Subodh Mullick Square (Wellington Square) with a team of five ophthalmologists. “We will increase the number to eight ophthalmologists over a period of time, or maybe more, if required. They will be supported by a group of optometrists and other paramedical staff,” Gopal adds.