Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani on Sunday performed the groundbreaking ceremony for a Rs 150-crore vision care initiative, which will include a centre for advanced and affordable treatment of eye-related ailments, and a training facility for eye health professionals, in Bihar’s Saran district.
Together, the Adani Centre for Eye (ACE) and Adani Training in Ophthalmic Medicine (ATOM) will create an ecosystem that will be capable of performing 3.3 lakh eye surgeries annually and training 1,000 eye care professionals every year. The Adani Group said that it will be one of the world’s largest rural health ecosystems dedicated to eye care, once the project is completed.
Both the facilities will be attached to the Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital at Mastichak, which is situated about 70 km from Patna. Mrityunjay Tiwari, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Akhand Jyoti Trust, a non-profit organisation that runs the hospital, also attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
In a formal statement, the Adani Group said that Rs 150 crore has been pledged by Adani Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of the business conglomerate, for the two projects.
Speaking at the event, Gautam Adani said he believed in the philosophy of “seva hi sadhana hai” (service is worship) and announced a “personal commitment of Rs 500 crore” to the non-profit Akhand Jyoti Foundation with an aim to boost “long-term humanitarian and community health care mission across the country.”
The billionaire industrialist was also joined by his wife, Dr Priti Adani, who is also the Chairperson of Adani Foundation, at the ceremony.
“The Adani Foundation will additionally establish a 200-bed hospital in Pirpainti, near the Adani Group’s upcoming ultra-supercritical thermal power plant in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district to strengthen long-term healthcare access and community outreach in eastern Bihar,” the Adani Group said in its release.
Moreover, in a post on X, Gautam Adani described Bihar as “a land that has historically given the nation a new consciousness and direction.”
“Adani Akhand Jyoti Foundation would seek to take the spirit of service born in Bihar to underserved communities across India,” the business tycoon wrote further.