The People's Ophthalmologist.
Our founder, Padma Bhushan Dr. P. Siva Reddy (1920 to 2005), watched his mother lose her sight to glaucoma as a boy, and gave his life to making sure others would not. In 1975 he founded this hospital. Three generations of his family have held to it since.
Dr. Perugu Siva Reddy · founder, the People's Ophthalmologist
A mother's failing eyes set this in motion nearly a century ago.
Dr. Perugu Siva Reddy gave his life to a single, quiet promise: that no one should lose their sight to something that could be prevented.
He was born on 12 September 1920 in Dinnedevarapadu, a village in Kurnool District, into a family known simply as Perugu, curd, for the milk they carried to their neighbours' doors. He lost his mother when he was nine. He had watched her live in pain with glaucoma, a quiet thief of sight for which their world then had little answer, and that memory stayed with him. He chose ophthalmology, and above all he chose the blindness that did not have to happen.
That path took him from the village to Madras, where he began his medical studies in 1940, and to his M.S. in Ophthalmology in 1952. He joined the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital in Hyderabad as a Lecturer in 1957, rose to Professor and Superintendent, and served as Director of Ophthalmology from 1975 to 1978. He gave the better part of his career to building that hospital and its subspecialty clinics, and in 1964 he helped establish one of India's earliest eye banks. But he never believed good care should wait inside city walls. Across his lifetime he carried surgery into the countryside through more than five hundred rural eye camps, long days that began at dawn and reached people who could never have reached a hospital. In all, he performed around three lakh cataract operations, and was honoured by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1982 on completing one lakh.
His work was recognised by the Government of India with the Padma Shri in 1971 and the Padma Bhushan in 1977, by the Dr. B. C. Roy National Award in 1981 and again in 1987, and by many years as Honorary Surgeon to the President of India. He wore those honours lightly, and gave the 1981 prize to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. He was a founder member of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology in 1961, and worked alongside figures such as A. Edward Maumenee of the Wilmer Eye Institute, with whom the family archive keeps a quiet, smiling photograph.
He is remembered, more than for any of this, as the People's Ophthalmologist, because he knew his patients by name, because the elderly and the poor were never an inconvenience to him, and because he taught generation after generation of surgeons to see their work the same way.
A life in service of sight.
1920 to 2005.
A doctor who measured his life in operations performed, students taught, and villages reached.
- 1920
Born on 12 September in Dinnedevarapadu, a village in Kurnool District, to Hussain Reddy and Pullamma. The family was known simply as Perugu, curd, for the milk they carried to their neighbours' doors.
- 1929
Loses his mother when he is nine. He had watched her live in pain with glaucoma.
- 1940
Begins his medical studies in Madras at the age of twenty.
- 1952
Completes his M.S. in Ophthalmology. In the years that follow he serves as Assistant Surgeon at Nandyal and Banaganapalli, and as Assistant Professor at Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam.
- 1957
Joins Osmania Medical College and the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Hyderabad, as Lecturer. He rises to Professor and Superintendent of the hospital, a post he holds until 1975.
- 1961
A founder member of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, in Manila.
- 1964
Helps establish one of India's earliest eye banks, supported by the industrialist Sri T. L. Kapadia.
- 1968
An orbital worm is named Gordia Reddy in his honour at the International Conference of Ophthalmology in Munich.
- 1970
Awarded the Adenwalla Oration Gold Medal of the All India Ophthalmological Society.
- 1971
Conferred the Padma Shri by the Government of India, during the tenure of President V. V. Giri, and appointed Honorary Surgeon to the President of India, a role he would hold across successive tenures.
- 1973
A paediatric eye unit opens at the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, inaugurated by President V. V. Giri.
- 1975
Founds Dr. P. Siva Reddy Eye Hospital in Himayat Nagar with his own hands. It is the hospital still serving patients today. In the same year he is appointed Honorary Adviser on Ophthalmology to the Government of Andhra Pradesh, and becomes Director of Ophthalmology, a post he holds until 1978.
- 1977
Conferred the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, during the tenure of acting President B. D. Jatti.
- 1978
Conferred the degree of D.Sc. by Sri Venkateswara University. The Operation Cataract Project begins in Medak district and runs until 1981.
- 1980
His sixtieth birthday, the Shashtipurthi, is marked in Hyderabad with a souvenir volume. The Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind sends a letter of tribute.
- 1981
Receives the Dr. B. C. Roy National Award, in the category of socio-medical relief. He donates the prize to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.
- 1982
Honoured by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on completing one lakh cataract operations.
- 1985
Awarded the Jose Rizal Medal of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, the first Indian to be so honoured.
- 1987
Receives the Dr. B. C. Roy National Award a second time, in the category of medical man and statesman.
- 1994
Awarded the Dr. Yellapragada Subbarow Gold Medal, in Kurnool.
- 1995
Receives the Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Puraskar, for science and technology.
- 2005
Dr. Perugu Siva Reddy passes away. The calling he began passes on, through his family, to a third generation.
What the sources record of his work.
Taken from the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology tribute of 2022 and the Shashtipurthi souvenir of 1980, both cited below.
- Rural eye camps
- More than 500 mobile eye camps across his lifetime. Sessions saw 400 to 500 patients, with operating beginning at about seven in the morning.
- Cataract operations
- Around three lakh across his life, as recorded in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology tribute. He was honoured in 1982 on completing one lakh.
- Teaching and writing
- Two textbooks of ophthalmology and more than 200 papers. He taught at Osmania Medical College from 1957.
- Public eye care
- Worked to establish the regional eye hospitals at Warangal, Kurnool and Visakhapatnam, and led a World Health Organization team to Sri Lanka to demonstrate the mobile eye camp.
- In his name
- The Government of Andhra Pradesh named the regional eye hospital at Kurnool the Padmabhushan Dr. P. Siva Reddy Regional Eye Hospital. It is a separate government institution.
- Professional bodies
- Founder member of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (1961), with roles in the International Council of Ophthalmology and the All India Ophthalmological Society.
Three generations, one promise.
1st Dr. P. Siva Reddy
Founder · 1975
The People's Ophthalmologist. He built this hospital with his own hands and set its standard: a person's sight is worth everything a careful, patient hand can give it.
2nd Dr. H. Prabhakar Reddy
His son-in-law
The calling passed to the founder's son-in-law, who carried the hospital and its patients forward through the years in which lens implants became part of cataract surgery.
3rd Dr. H. Siva Mohan Reddy
Ophthalmologist, third generation
The founder's grandson leads the hospital now. MBBS, DO, DNB (Ophthalmology). Registered with the Telangana State Medical Council, Reg. No. 57104.
A mother's failing eyes began this work nearly a century ago.
In the medical record
The founder's life is documented in a tribute published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, co-authored by his grandson, and in the 1980 Shashtipurthi souvenir of his sixtieth birthday. The dates, honours and figures on this page are drawn from these sources.
Sen M, Reddy HSM, Honavar SG. Dr. Perugu Siva Reddy: The People's Ophthalmologist. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2022;70(11):3759 to 3761. Read the tribute (PMC9907303)
Dr. P. Siva Reddy Eye Hospital, Himayat Nagar.
3-5-886, Himayat Nagar Road, Hyderabad 500029. OPD Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 2 PM and 4:30 PM to 7 PM. Phone 80966 65550.