The Institution owes it's genesis to a one room clinic in the walled city of Delhi set up by Dr.S.P Shroff in 1914. Dr.Shroff had just returned from England after completing his FRCS and wanted to serve his impoverished countrymen. As the clinic grew in popularity, stalwarts like Dr M A Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Rai Bahadur Lala Sultan Singh and Shri Pyare Lal became associated with the idea of quality eye care for every one.

The current building of the hospital was completed in 1927 and was inaugurated on March 23rd by Lady Irwin, the then Vicerene of India.

Even today, the Institute remains governed by a board of directors representing stalwarts from different walks of life.

The Vision of SCEH:
To be the best tertiary Eye and ENT care Institution in Northern India providing quality care to people across all economic sections of the society.

This is our avowed goal. A Tertiary institution as defined as one which focuses on Comprehensiveness; Education, Reserach and Impact in terms of numbers and understanding

To achieve this Vision, SCEH works on rotating three year strategic plans that are developed internally with the participation all important stakeholders. The duration of the current strategic Plan is 2010-2013.