THE HISTORY BEHIND CREATION OF  DR.AGARWAL EYE HOSPITAL

Armed with a degree in medicine and the ambition to create an eye hospital of repute Dr.Raghveer Saran Aagarwal left his hometown of Bulandshar and came to the big city Delhi. Here he set up his practice in one of the by lanes of the busy central areas of Delhi called Darya Ganj. His address then was simple enough 15, Darya Ganj, Delhi. Little did he know that this address would be the foundation stone for future generations of eye surgeons. The son of a farmer he had known the only security lay in tilling the land, however now with a medical degree he wanted to stretch out and lay his life towards the upliftment of human misery through the practices of allopathic medicine.

At about the time Shaheed Bhagat Singh was taken to the gallows was heard the wail of a newborn baby boy in Dr. Agarwal’s household.Here arose yet another son of the soil ready to lay his life to the terms of his fathers in the practice of medicine and eye care. 
 

Some amount of unrest forever dwelled in Dr. Agarwal’s heart and he set out to the Himalayas to take up sanyas, in search of a guru to show him the way to Moksha. At this time he heard of the genius of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh and came running down the Himalayas to join up as one of the founder members of the Ashram Sri Aurobindo Ghosh set up in Pondicherry. Along with the blessings of the Mother he set about healing the eyes of the people of the southern French colony of Pondicherry and set about the School for Perfect Eyesight. By this time he was deep into the philosophies of Naturopathy and had abandoned the concept of allopathic cures. 
 

Came India’s much awaited Independence and both father and son had served the country many times by going to jail along with his grandfather who was a staunch Mahatma Gandhi’s follower. By now Dr. Agarwal was running a successful establishment in Delhi as well as in Pondicherry. 
 

Dr. J. Agarwal just finished his post graduation in Ophthalmology from Aligarh married his sweetheart of his college years from Sawai Man Singh Medical College, Jaipur, his Muslim wife Dr.Mrs.T.Agarwal and set up their practice in the southern metropolis of Madras. 

They wanted to be in a big city however still close to take care of their aged parents. Thus started yet another saga into the realms of eye care for the nation. And 29C Edward Elliots Rd, Madras became an edifice for eye care.
 

Born to this couple nurturing national integration and secular beliefs were two children whose concept and realization was to make them eye surgeons Dr. Sunita Agarwal and Dr.Amar  Agarwal. Their up bringing was directed in medical beliefs with holidays spent under the operating microscope suturing cadaver eyes, animal eyes, or when those were not available tomatoes and onions. 
 

1976

A dream had taken place in the mind of collegian Dr.J.Agarwal of building an eye hospital in the shape of an eye and this came to reality on December 15th 1976 dedicating his life’s ambition to his wife. Thus came to reality the worlds first and till now only eye hospital in the shape of an eye that has been listed as one of Ripley’s Believe it or Not series today. Thus 13 though an unlucky number proved lucky for this family of eye surgeons and 13, Cathedral Rd, Madras 86 became a landmark for the Southern city of Chennai. 
 

Saw the emergence of two more eye surgeons into the foray of eye care with their spouses engaged in the same field as well, and then 

came into the family in the next three years four sons to continue the tradition of eye care for the nation. From inception to date dreams of the family have always targeted towards the offspring entering the same field of eye care. Through the generations each has showed the next the love and dedication towards ophthalmology.
 

Saw the emergence of an advanced postgraduate training centre as awarded by the Govt of India. Now five levels and 30,000 square feet of concrete structure housed every department of ophthalmology with microbiology and pathology alongside. The training center had hospital beds, which could number over 50 and resident training programs for four eye surgeons. Dr.Athiya Agarwal joined the forces after post graduation alongside completing her masters in pathology to combine as an ocular pathologist.
 

Dr.Amar Agarwal completed his MS, and FRCS England and joined up forces to format the early years of phacoemulsification cataract surgery. Then came the endless list of lasers to be included in eye care. This started the saga of making the institution a laser eye hospital, so much so that today practically all surgeries and patients require laser in some format or the other.
 

The Institution was included as one of the Major Eye Centers of the World by the International Congress of Ophthalmology. Original research work by Dr.Sunita Agarwal was accepted by the International Congress of Ophthalmology on Magnetopexy for retinal detachment and giant tears, the paper was read at Singapore.
 

The Pan Ophthalmologica conventions were started till date every year one international eye convention is held on foreign shores, with the years Sri Lanka, Singapore, India, Maldives, Hungary, South Africa, and Thailand have seen such conventions. This brings about a closer fraternity amongst the neighbouring countries and attempts to entwine eye surgeons from all over.
 

With accolades of good wishes and blessings yet another avenue for eye care was established by Dr.Sunita Agarwal and her husband Pankaj Sondhi in Bangalore and the old number that Dr.R.S.Agarwal had started with came a full round with 15, Eagle St, Bangalore 25 became an address for laser eye care.
 

This closely held family tradition took to public shares and the public showed its love and trust for the organization by booking seven times over the prescribed amount. Shareholders now become members of this big family devoted to eye care for the nation. In a promise to bring the best of eye care to the very doorstep of the country, the institution nurtures every possible dream, every possible avenue to bring better health care to all concerned.
 

The dream of doing cataract surgery with no injections, no stitches and not even a drop of blood lost came to be reality with the inclusion of LASER PHACO CATARACT SURGERY. Spending months in the USA the eye surgeons learnt, mastered and added a few pointers of their own in making this a reality. From here on every day a newer technique was dreamt off and made into reality with time.In yet another avenue of caring saw the emergence of DR.AGARWAL’S PHARMA to bring quality products at close quarters with the  public, multivitamin tablets and syrups, eye drops, surgical drapes and gowns and much more manufactured by this pharmaceutical division.
 

1996

The flap and zap technique of LASIK LASER established the caring dreams of the establishment, not to be swayed by other less predictable techniques and taking on only what they could fathom as a reality with a purpose, both the centers in Chennai and Bangalore saw the emergence of the lasik laser procedures. 
 

Phakonit or cataract surgery with needles was devised structured and made under 1 mm cataract surgery a possibility, adding the laser to this only emphasised the importance of lasers in cataract surgery. The American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery saw 12 hours of instruction courses where the family took part. The family with international collaboration structured a landmark book on Laser, Phaco and  Foldable Intraocular lenses. No anaesthesia techniques of using cry-analgesia was established for cataract surgery moving this from science fiction into reality.
 

For the first time live cataract surgery was relayed to the international audience at the convention of the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery at Seattle. This two hour extravagant saw five surgeries and detailed out reality what others might find fiction, no anaesthesia, laser Phakonit under 1 mm cataract surgery was shown through an instruction course conducted in Bangalore and heart in Seattle. This could not have been possible without the immense help given by Sun TV and the Department of Telecommunications, Bangalore. 

The Kargil war brought out the patriotic fervour of the institution and a six-member team sponsored by Indian Airlines travelled the border zones giving relief in terms of medication, interlobular lenses, and surgery. For the first time phacoemulsification with foldable interlobular lenses was carried out at 14,000 feet above sea level, the roles were reversed with the patients being fine, however  the surgeon needed oxygen under the surgical mask. However the determination of the team saw over 10000 people coming under the umbrella of treatment with over 45 lakhs worth of drugs and equipment much of it donated by Apiary Associates and Dr.Agarwal’s Pharma Ltd.
 

TRYPAN BLUE : Trypan Blue is a very special dye used in the management of Mature Cataracts. Once this is injected inside the eye just before the cataract removal, the capsule of the lens gets stained. This way one can see the capsule very clearly and then Phakonit or Phaco can be done followed by the implantation of Foldable IOL. This is a tremendous boon in patients who leave their cataracts for a long time and the cataract becomes mature and hard.