Modi operates 40 patients an hour, attending to four patients at a time. Ambidextrous, he performs delicate eye surgeries with his left hand. He does cataract operations, squint corrections and cornea transplants. Earlier, Modi used to perform 600 to 700 operations a day in his camps. But now in Karnataka, he operates on 200 to 300 patients every day." Modi was a nominated member of the Karnataka Legislative Council for a term in the 1990s. Modi set out to hold eye camps in the then Bombay State, which included parts of Karnataka. He travelled to remote villages and towns to hold camps, often with very little financial or medical support. He mobilised support from local voluntary organisations and people. He also received assistance from India and abroad for his mission. Those operated upon were being given spectacles free of cost. Awards Padma Shri in 1956 Padma Bhushan in 1968 The government of India has awarded him with its highest awards of the Padma Shree and Padma Bhushan. Helen Keller, the blind and deaf-mute American author, it is said, attended one of his camps in 1954, and asked him: "Have you insured your hands?" It is believed that through his mass eye camps, he has conducted 579,000 operations, and has examined over 5,000,000 (5 million) patients and given free food to over 10,000,000 (10 million) persons. Modi appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records in the year 1986, for performing 833 eye operations in a day, the highest in the world. These operations were conducted in Tirupati in 1968 over 14 continuous hours. He was fondly called "Modi, Kannukota anna", the brother who gave vision, by people in his native state Karnataka. This anna has performed all the eye operations free of cost. References External links Yourtryehero.org Indianexpress.com Eyeorbit.org Und.nodak.edu 1916 births 2005 deaths Indian surgeons Indian ophthalmologists Recipients of the Padma Shri in medicine People from Bagalkot district Kannada people Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in medicine 20th-century Indian medical doctors Medical doctors from Karnataka 20th-century surgeons