The Aravind Eye Hospital Madurai, India: In Service for Sight

1 Introduction by Kumar Santosh (44) 2. History by Chandrakant Falke (72) 3. AEH - Main hospital, Free Hospital by Vibhusha Page (30) 4. Eye Camp by Pratik Patil (105) 5. Conclusion by Shweta Patil (37)

Blindness Problem In India 1992: 30million blind people all over the World. 12million in India. 95% due to cataract related 2000: 18.7million blind 9.7million blindness due to Cataract 2010-2020: 24.1million by2010 31.6millionby2020

CATARACT

PRINCIPAL SURGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR CATARACT REMOVAL 1. 2. ICCE i.e Intracapsular surgery without intraocular lens. most widely used procedure. performed without an operating microscope, uses simple instruments. Operation completed in less than 20 min. Use of aphakic spectacles after 3-5 weeks of surgery. ECCE i.e Extracapsular surgery with intaocular lens. Performed under an operating microscope. Surgery require close to 30 min. Insertion of a tiny transparent plastic intraocular lens in posterior chamber therefore no need of corrective spectacles. Quality of sight near natural and free of distortion or magnification.

Who is Dr. V?
Also know as Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy. Was a famous Indian Opthalmologist and is a successful entrepreneur . Was the chairman and founder of Aravind Eye Hospitals. Was in Time Magazines list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Created one of the largest eye care systems in the world.

EARLY LIFE Born in a farmer family in 1918 in village near madurai. Graduated with bachelors degree in medicine from madras university in 1944. Joined indian armed medical corps in 1945 but discharged in 1948 due to severe arthritis. Believed in Gandhian Values of Non-Violence and truthfulness & was inspired by Swami Vivekananda and later was influenced by Sri Aurobindo .

Idea of eye care :

Got the idea when he saw the golden arches of McDonalds. He reasoned that if McDonalds could sell billions of low cost burgers, he could also sell low cost sight restoring operations. Started Aravind eye hospital after mortgaging his house.

History
Aravind eye hospital opened in 1976. Main hospital opened in 1977 . The actual staff at initial stage was 240 people. In 1990 aravind opened its free hospital. Aravind had research and training collaboration with St. Vincents hospital ,university of Illinois eye and ear infirmary in Chicago. They have very less salary but they are always encouraged to advance their professional life.

Aravind eye Hospital:1992

The aravind eye hospital was expanding its operations for helping more cataract patients . By 1992 aravind eye hospital had screened 3.65 million patients and performed some 3,35,000 cataract operations. 90% of their annual budget is self generated. The other 10% comes from sources around the world such as the royal commonwealth society for the blind[UK] and Seva foundation [ USA].

IOL Factory
IOL was integral part of surgery which cost Rs 800. They setup their own IOL manufacturing facility in 1991 . The Auro Lab can produce 60,000 a year. The lab produce 50% defect free lenses which has quality better than imported lenses. Their mission is to bring down the manufacturing cost from Rs 200 to Rs 100.

ARAVIND EYE HOSPITAL

The Main Hospital

Functioned independently Provided A,B & C class rooms with appropriate facilities and privacy Complicated cases brought in from free hospital The patients were divided into two groups by afternoon Preliminary examinations by opthalmic assistants followed by final examination by senior medical officer Division of patients
Requiring surgery Requiring corrective lenses

The Main Hospital

Making patients ready for the surgery by nursing staff 20 patients readied at a time 2 active operating tables and third bed next patient to be readied. 15 minutes for each ECCE surgery A separate team for following surgery

ARAVIND EYE HOSPITAL

The Free Hospital

Not as organized as the main hospital. Patient flow somewhat crowded leading to a little commotion. Sequence of examinations same as Main Hospital. Patient preparation for surgery similar to main hospital. Workflow organization similar to Main Hospital.

The Free Hospital

Almost all surgeries here were of ICCE type except when medical reason dictated against the surgery. 6x3 Bamboo/coir mat in place of beds for patients to recuperate. Patients having post surgery complications were provided with additional hospital stay.

The Eye Camp

Visit at Dindigul Eye Camp. Sponsored by local sponsors. Marketing of the Camp. Concern about less response. Conducted Survey.

Conclusion
Financing the initiative was a problem
Dr. V mortgaged his house and later things started looping in.

Appointment and payment of excellent skilled staff.

Family members of Dr. V joined in, agreed to work for extra hours for lesser salary.

Carrying out the marketing campaigns (Eye Camps)

Taken care by the sponsors by making the hidden costs negligible.

Conti
Dr. V, has a goal to spread the Aravind Model to every nook and corner of India, Asia and Africa; wherever there is blindness, he wants to offer hope