How Khambhalia Lions Club turned consistent service into a legacy of sight
For residents of 19 nearby villages — including Vinjalpur, Keshod, Bhartar, Sutariya, and Bhandariya — Khambhaliya, the headquarters of Devbhumi Dwarka district in Gujarat, has long been the closest point for medical care. Over the past three decades, that distance has steadily reduced for those seeking treatment for eye conditions.
That change has been driven, in large part, by the work of Khambhalia Lions Club, District 3232-J. Chartered in 1983 with 36 members, the club quickly built a reputation for blood donation drives and eye care. Its most enduring effort has been a partnership with Manav Seva Samiti, conducting eye camps at Lalitaben Premjibhai Badiyani Hospital. Over the past two decades, 48 camps have been organised, covering screenings for cataract, glaucoma, pterygium, and related conditions. In total, across three decades of sustained effort, the club has conducted more than 60 camps, screened over 14,000 patients, and facilitated more than 1,200 cataract surgeries.
In earlier years, when Khambhaliya had limited medical resources, the club focused on identifying patients, offering preliminary care, and arranging referrals to Sri Ranachhod Das Bapu Charitable Trust Eye Hospital in Rajkot and Shivanand Mission Hospital in Virnagar. As PDG Dhiren Badiyani notes, patients were provided travel, food, and medicines, ensuring they could access treatment without added burden.
Today, care is closer home. Lions facilitate three to four cataract surgeries each week at Lalitaben Premjibhai Badiyani Hospital, at a cost of ₹3,500, making treatment accessible to the community. Beyond the camps, Lions have also reached government schools in remote areas. As Past President Hadaba notes, 4,000 spectacles have been distributed to children and another 5,000 to adults over the years.
By the Numbers
60+
Eye Camps
Conducted
1,200+
Cataract Surgeries Facilitated
14,000+
Patients
Screened
9,000
Spectacles Distributed
This work is sustained by donors across the world. President Parbat Gadhvi expresses gratitude to well-wishers including Gandhi Group Charitable Trust from Mumbai, Taraben Arvindbhai Shah from London, Ramesh Pabari from Leicester, and Jayantibhai Badiyani from Kisumu, Kenya — the hospital’s primary benefactor. Jayantibhai puts it simply: this is a way of expressing love and gratitude to the motherland, while also keeping the next generation connected to their roots.
Forty years in, the work continues much the same way it began — camp after camp, patient after patient — bringing care closer, and restoring sight where it was once out of reach.