Saran: Bihar’s deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary has laid the foundation stone for what is being billed as the world’s largest eye care centre, a 1,000-bed community hospital in Mastichak, Saran district.
The Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital project, supported by the Shanker Eye Foundation in the US, is expected to be completed by March 2027. Once operational, it will have the capacity to perform 300,000 eye surgeries annually, with all procedures offered free of charge. The new facility will include 19 operating theatres and 50 examination rooms.
The groundbreaking coincided with the birth anniversary of Mata Bhagwati Devi of the Gayatri Parivar. Speaking at the ceremony, deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary praised the initiative, calling Akhand Jyoti’s work “unique in a state like Bihar”, and pledged government support, including land for future expansions.
When the hospital opens, the existing 500-bed Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital in Mastichak will be repurposed as a super-speciality centre, with daily outpatient capacity set to increase from 700 to 1,200 patients. Co-founder and CEO Mrityunjay Tiwari said the expansion, coupled with new facilities in Bhojpur and Bhagalpur and upgrades to existing hospitals in Purnia, Samastipur and Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, would raise the group’s total surgical capacity to more than half a million procedures annually.
The event was attended by senior officials, including the chief economic adviser to the Indian government, Anantha Nageswaran, who said the success of Akhand Jyoti was vital for India’s development. Radhakrishnan Sundar, chief trustee of the Shanker Eye Foundation, highlighted the role of 60,000 donors in supporting the organisation’s mission to eliminate preventable blindness in India.
Information technology minister Krishna Kumar Mantoo recalled that the hospital began in a single room in a village temple, while Singapore-based consultant Jayesh Parekh spoke of the “Football to Eyeball” programme, describing it as central to Akhand Jyoti’s philosophy.
