Aravind Eye Hospitals

Aravind Eye Hospital Launched First Specialized Eye Care Center in ...

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Aravind Eye Hospitals is a network of eye hospitals run by the Aravind Eye Care System in in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded by Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (popularly known as Dr.V) in 1976. It has grown into the world's provider of eye care and has had a major impact in eradicating cataract related blindness in India. As of 2017, since inception, Aravind has handled over 52 million out-patient visits and performed over 6 million surgeries. Over 60% of the services were provided for free or at steeply subsidized rates. The model of Aravind Eye Care hospitals has been applauded and has become a subject for numerous case studies across the world.

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History

Cataracts are a major source of blindness in India, with at least 4 million cases reported every year, contributing to nearly to a quarter of the world's blind. Cataract related blindness can be avoided by timely intervention and surgery. In 1970's, India did not have eye care facilities to treat patients on such a large scale. Dr. Venkataswamy, the head of Ophthalmology at Madurai Medical College established the GOVEL Trust in 1976 after his retirement at the age of 58. The first Aravind Eye Hospital was founded in Madurai as a modest 11-bed hospital. The hospital was named after Sri Aurobindo, a freedom fighter and spiritual leader from India.

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The Aravind Model

Dr. V's vision was to eradicate needless blindness in India. Dr. V. wanted to emulate the service efficiency of McDonald's fast food and sought to adapt it to the eye care to cope with the increasingly unmet need for eye care services in developing countries. Aravind provides most of its care for free or ar steeply subsidized rates. However, the Aravind model is unique in that it allows patients the freedom and dignity of choice - patients at Aravind can choose to access the free services or they can choose to pay for the services that they need. Aravind also pioneered an outreach program wherein a team of professionals reach out to remote villages to conduct eye camps sponsored by community based organizations. Patients requiring further care or surgery are taken back to the hospital and treated for free. The community based organizations often take care of the costs of the screening camp while Aravind provides transport, boarding, surgery and followup care for free. Aravind started performing 5 times the number of cataract surgeries that were performed in the entire country and 16 times more than that of the entire U.S.

Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must also be the joy of doing something beautiful. Being of service to God and humanity means going well beyond the sophistication of the best technology, to the humble demonstration of courtesy and compassion to each patient.- Dr.G.Venkataswamy

Self sufficiency is a key highlight of the Aravind model. It is achieved through strict cost control, appropriate utilization of resources and highly efficient processes. The organization does not depend on any external sources of income for its patient care and all growth has been funded through income generated by the hospitals.

Aravind focused on rotating doctors between free and paid wards, concentrating on efficiency and hygiene thus eliminating differences between the surgeries done for paid and non-paid patients. The rate of infection in Aravind was about four per thousand surgeries which was significantly lower than the international norm of six per thousand surgeries.

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Hospitals and facilities

Aravind Hospital started in 1976 as an 11-bed hospital in Madurai. Aravind opened a hospital in Theni in 1985 and Tirunelveli in 1988. The hospital at Coimbatore was founded in 1997. Aravind later expanded to five more cities in Tamil Nadu including Tirupur, Salem, Dindigul, Thoothukudi, Udumalaipettai and neighboring Pondicherry. Aravind is setting up a hospital in Chennai at a cost of INR 1.4 billion with a capacity to perform 60,000 surgeries a year. The group also has four partnership projects -- with the Rajiv Gandhi Chairtable Trust in Amethi, another in Lucknow, Birla Corporation in Kolkata and Shanghvi Trust in Amreli, Gujarat. Aravind is also setting up its first overseas venture in Nigeria in partnership with Chanrai Group which is expected to be the largest eye-care facility in Africa when it goes operational in 2015 with a capacity to perform 10,000 surgeries annually.

Aurolab

Aravind faced a major challenge in terms of the rising costs and availability of intraocular lenses required for eye surgeries that threatened its model. After lobbying unsuccessfully with several leading lens manufacturing companies to set an appropriate price point for the Indian market, Dr.V took matters into his own hands. In 1992, with assistance from the Seva Foundation and other eye care NGOs, Aravind started Aurolab in 1992, a lens manufacturing facility in Madurai.What started as an in-house lens manufacturing division at Aravind quickly grew into a state of the art manufacturing facility that now exports products all over the world. In addition to lenses Aurolab now also manufactures sutures, pharmaceuticals and instruments.

LAICO

Aravind established Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology (LAICO) in association with Lions International in 1992. The institute offers consultancy and training for eye hospitals across the world. Through LAICO, Aravind has worked with over 300 hospitals across the world.

Aravind Eyebank

Aravind has established four eyebanks viz. Rotary Aravind International Eye Bank in Madurai in association with Rotary International (1998), Aravind - IOB Eye bank in Coimbatore in association with Indian Overseas Bank (1998), Rotary Aravind Eye Bank in Tirunelveli in association with Rotary International (2004) and Aravind Eye Bank Association in Puducherry (2005). The eyebanks help in procurement, processing, and distribution of corneal tissues and eyeballs for transplantation and research.