The Visionary for the Sightless

Alampur Saibaba Goud, known as Dr. A. Saibaba Goud, is a pioneering ophthalmologist and social entrepreneur from Hyderabad. He earned his MS in Ophthalmology from Osmania University and, in 1988, became the first person in India to receive a Ph.D. in Community Ophthalmology from the same university.

He served as Professor and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Osmania Medical College and as Medical Superintendent of the prestigious Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital in Hyderabad. A specialist in cataract and glaucoma surgery, he has also devoted himself to the study and development of low-vision aids and assistive devices for the visually impaired.

In 1991 he founded the Devnar Foundation for the Blind in Secunderabad, creating schools, residential facilities and vocational training programmes that enable visually challenged children and adults to lead independent, productive lives. He has been President of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness (Andhra Pradesh chapter) and Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Cricket Association for the Blind. He also innovated a modified electronic voting machine to make the electoral process accessible to the blind.

His lifelong service has been recognised with the Padma Shri in 2009, the Dr. B.C. Roy National Award, and numerous other national and international honours presented by successive Presidents of India.

Today, through the Devnar Foundation and the many lives he has touched—both by restoring sight in the operating theatre and by empowering those who live without it—Padma Shri Dr. Alampur Saibaba Goud continues his quiet mission. In classrooms, workshops and clinics across Telangana, his legacy endures: a deep belief that every person, regardless of vision, deserves dignity, opportunity and the chance to shine.