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The 20th Annual VISION 2020 – Right to Sight India Conference, hosted by Sankara Eye Foundation India at Sankara Eye Hospital, Bengaluru, from 10 – 12 July 2026, provided an opportunity to reflect on the progress of eye health in India over the past two decades and the priorities that will shape its next phase.
The Conference brought together over 1,000 delegates, with representation from 23 states across India and International participation from the United States, the United Kingdom, Nepal and Bangladesh. Participants included clinicians, optometrists, researchers, academicians, policymakers, healthcare leaders, allied health professionals and representatives from industry. The breadth of participation reflected both the evolution of the sector and the importance of collective action in addressing the challenges ahead.
The priorities highlighted in the Conference for the next phase align closely with IAPB’s 2030 In Sight strategy: Integrate, Elevate and Activate.
The scale and complexity of eye-health make it increasingly difficult for any organisation to work in isolation. Greater collaboration among eye-care organisations, governments, NGOs, corporates, technology partners, academia and communities will be essential going forward.
Integration must also extend beyond organisations. Eye health is closely connected with primary healthcare, education, non-communicable diseases, ageing, rehabilitation and wider development priorities. Different partners bring different strengths, from community reach and clinical expertise to technology, research, financing and policy. Greater coordination can ensure these strengths complement one another rather than operate in parallel.
Ultimately, systems must be designed around the person seeking care, rather than around the boundaries of individual institutions.
Elevating eye health also requires a broader understanding of progress. Screenings, consultations and surgeries remain important measures of activity, but they do not, by themselves, define the quality or impact of care.
The more fundamental question is: How can the care delivered tomorrow be better than the care delivered today?
Continuous improvement requires a clear focus on outcomes for the patient. The question is not simply whether care was delivered, but whether it achieved the intended clinical outcome and whether those outcomes can be improved further. Can care be made more effective, safer, more consistent and more efficient?
This calls for a shift from an organisation-centred to a person-centred approach, where services are designed not primarily around what institutions can deliver, but around what people need.
Technology will be an important enabler of this transformation. Digital platforms, teleophthalmology and artificial intelligence can extend expertise beyond conventional facilities, strengthen referral pathways and connect communities with specialised care. For a country as geographically and demographically diverse as India, technology can help bring quality eye care closer to people’s doorsteps.
However, innovation must be accompanied by responsibility. Artificial intelligence should be deployed where it adds genuine value, with appropriate attention to quality, safety, equity, privacy, transparency and human oversight. Technology should remain an enabler of better care, rather than an end in itself.
Activation also requires broader participation. Corporates can contribute technology, innovation, financing and expertise; NGOs bring community relationships and last-mile experience; governments provide scale and systems; and healthcare institutions contribute clinical capability. Stronger alignment among these stakeholders can create solutions that no single organisation can achieve independently.
For Sankara Eye Foundation India, these reflections carry particular significance as the organisation marks its Golden Jubilee. Five decades of experience have reinforced that sustainable eye care requires the integration of access, affordability, quality, community engagement, technology and institutional sustainability.
The VISION 2020 India journey demonstrates what sustained collective action can achieve. The next phase must build on this foundation while placing greater emphasis on integration, continuous improvement, responsible innovation and, above all, the needs of the individual.
As India works towards Viksit Bharat 2047, good vision must increasingly be recognised not only as a health outcome, but as an enabler of education, employment, and independence.
The journey from Right to Sight to the next chapter is therefore not simply about delivering more eye care. It is about integrating efforts, elevating quality and activating innovation and collaboration around the person who ultimately matters most: the patient.
