Indian Military Doctors Restore Vision for 374 Patients in Historic Gorakhpur Mega Eye Camp
New Delhi 27 Feb :- In a landmark medical achievement for Eastern Uttar Pradesh, a specialized ophthalmic team from the Indian Army and Indian Air Force successfully concluded the first Mega Advanced Surgical Eye Camp at the 12 Air Force Hospital in Gorakhpur on February 27, 2026. Over the course of the intensive four-day mission, military surgeons performed 374 life-changing surgeries, restoring sight to hundreds of individuals from underserved communities. The high-profile closing ceremony was graced by Air Marshal B Manikantan, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command, alongside top-tier inspections by Surgeon Vice Admiral Arti Sarin, Director General Armed Forces Medical Services, and Air Marshal Sandeep Thareja, Director General Medical Services (Air).
The camp emerged as a vital beacon of hope, drawing patients not only from the rural heartlands of Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Deoria, and Maharajganj but also across international borders from Nepal. The profound human impact of the initiative was epitomized by 69-year-old Gorakhpur resident Shri Amarnath Gupta, who regained the ability to see his grandchildren’s faces after years of debilitating vision loss. His story is one of hundreds, representing a “new lease of light” for a population that previously lacked access to such high-end ophthalmic interventions.
The success of this historic mission was driven by a vanguard of elite military medical professionals led by Brigadier (Dr) Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Head of Ophthalmology at Army Hospital (Research & Referral), supported by Lt Col Ravi Chauhan and Maj Amrita Joshi. To ensure surgical excellence, the Indian Air Force airlifted world-class medical equipment directly to the region, allowing the team to operate with the same precision found in premier urban medical centers. This collaborative effort between the armed forces branches underscores a significant commitment to civil-military synergy and specialized healthcare outreach in India’s most remote corridors.