In the bustling streets of Madras in the late 1950s, a young ophthalmologist named Jaiveer Agarwal arrived with his wife Tahira and little more than determination and a few rupees. Born on 24 September 1930 into a family already steeped in eye care—his father, Dr. R.S. Agarwal, was a prominent ophthalmologist—he had trained at SMS Medical College, Jaipur. Together the couple opened a modest clinic. Patients came slowly at first, but word of their skill spread.

“Sight is a gift that should never be denied because of poverty,” Jaiveer would tell colleagues and patients alike as he organised free eye camps in surrounding villages. He screened schoolchildren for refractive errors, campaigned tirelessly for eye donations to treat corneal blindness, and treated hundreds of thousands of people over the decades. Technically innovative, he introduced refractive keratoplasty using the cryolathe to India and was among the first in the country to perform cryoextraction of cataracts in the 1960s.

From that small beginning grew Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, an institution that would expand into a major network while remaining rooted in accessible care. He served as President of the All India Ophthalmological Society in 1992 and held leadership roles in the Tamil Nadu and Madras City ophthalmic associations. International recognition came from centres in Singapore, Sri Lanka, the United States and Colombia, yet the honour he treasured most was the Padma Bhushan, conferred by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2006.

Jaiveer Agarwal passed away on 16 November 2009. The hospital he founded with Tahira continued under their son Amar and the next generation, carrying forward a legacy of clinical excellence and service. From a tiny clinic started with almost nothing to a lasting institution that restored vision to countless eyes, his life remains a story of quiet pioneering, family partnership and an unwavering belief that no one should live in darkness when light can be restored.