Operation DRISHTI Camp Treats 4,000 Patients at Rairangpur

The Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) held the 12th edition of Operation DRISHTI, a mega multi-speciality medical camp, at Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha from 2 to 4 November 2026. The camp treated more than 4,000 patients and performed 365 sight-restoring eye surgeries. All specialist care was given free of cost, and the aim was to take advanced treatment to a region where such services are hard to reach.

The visit by the DGAFMS

On 4 November 2026 the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services, Air Marshal Sandeep Thareja, visited the camp, met patients who were being examined or recovering after surgery, and handed medicine kits to those who had undergone eye operations. He praised the medical teams for staying at work through difficult weather caused by a cyclone, so that treatment never stopped.

What the departments did

Specialists from Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Nephrology, Dermatology, Dental and General Medicine worked under one roof, and every patient who reported was examined on the spot, with investigations, treatment and, where needed, referral for advanced care.

The advanced interventions marked out by the cardiology team include angiography, CT angiography, valve surgery, device implantation and balloon pulmonary valvotomy.

Two patients and their surgeries

Among those treated was Biswanath, aged 75, who had a complicated cataract left by an old injury to the eye. Surgeons performed a manual small-incision cataract surgery with a scleral-fixated intraocular lens. Sombari Gope, aged 60, had a dense cataract in a structurally small eye, and the team carried out manual small-incision cataract surgery with a posterior chamber lens while protecting the cornea.

Why the place matters

Rairangpur is the place the President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu, comes from, which gave the camp added significance. Operation DRISHTI is the AFMS initiative that carries specialised eye care and advanced medical services to under-served parts of the country, and this edition was described as another milestone in that effort. For examination purposes, note that the Armed Forces Medical Services is the tri-service medical organisation of the armed forces, that its head holds the designation Director General Armed Forces Medical Services, and that the humanitarian work of the services in civilian areas is a recurring theme in questions on defence.