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DEHRADUN: A 50-bedded super-speciality eye care centre — Vivekananda Naetralaya — was inaugurated on Wednesday at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram in Dehradun as part of the ashram’s 100th year celebrations which had begun on Tuesday. Swami Suvirananda , general secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna mission, Belur Math, inaugurated the centre in the ashram’s premises in Kishanpur. More than 200 monks from different parts of the country were present during the occasion.

“The eye care centre has been constructed at a cost of Rs 12 crore and the entire sum has been donated to the mission by its well-wishers,”Swami Suvirananda said. Dr DP Kar, medical director of the centre, told TOI that it would be “the most advanced and well-equipped eye care centre in Uttarakhand to offer almost free services to the needy and at reasonable rates for others.” “We aim to provide 4000 free surgeries to the poor from remote villages every year. Besides providing cataract treatment and low vision aids, the centre would specialise in prevention and treatment of diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and childhood blindness.”

The centenary year celebration which have seen a series of religious and cultural programmes at the ashram, will end on Thursday.