PRESENTATION

ARAVIND EYE CARE

SYSTEM
Presented By,
Anand R Babu
Beetha Thampi
Niyas Mohamed
Saranya V
Vivarthana Vijayan
Foundation
Began in 1976

Padmashree Dr. G.Venkataswamy

Affectionately referred to as Dr. V

Left the Government Medical College , for Madurai

Vision : Eradicate needless blindness at least in Tamil Nadu , if not in the entire world.

Mission : To eradicate needless blindness by providing appropriate, compassionate and high quality eye
care for all

Premier eye care institution

Largest Eye care system in the world

Organization
Non- Profit trust Govel Trust

Chairman Dr.V

Director Dr. Namperumalswamy

Joint Director Dr. G Natchiar

Only full time doctors

Private practice is not allowed

Medical officers do 60% clinical work, 20% teaching and 20% research.

Open Leadership
 Eye Care Facilities
(Aravind Eye
Hospitals)
Lions Aravind Institute
Community Outreach of Community
MISSION: Ophthalmology
Programs
To eradicate (LAICO)
needless
blindness
by providing
Education and Training appropriate,
Aravind PG Institute of Making technology
compassiona
Ophthalmology affordable
te,
Aurolab
and high-
quality
eye care
Women and Childcare
for all Research
Aravind Center for
Women, Children, and Aravind Medical
Community Health Research Foundation
Eye Bank
Rotary Aravind
International Eye Bank
Composition
Specialty
Voluntary Bhajans

Offers residential 3.6 million eye surgeries

2600 surgeries per doctor per year

Well trained Para-Medical Staff

Cataract surgery through insertion of IOLs

Financially self supporting

Highly Qualified training for Nurses

Yoga sessions and and Fellowship Programs

Training Of Nurses

Doctors : Nurses -1:6

Recruits girls from Rural backgrounds

Age between 17-19

Attitude is more important than knowledge and skills

60-100girls from 400- 600 applications

No consideration for recommendation letter

Two years training after Recruitment

 Rotation during training

Training in Basic sciences : Human Anatomy and Physiology

After four months different tasks are assigned

Next 8 months special training on the field assigned

Next 6 months apprenticeship with a trainer nurse

Last 6 months Guidance under the senior nurses

Training in Tamil

Basic Communication is taught in English

Workflow
Outpatients starts from 7 am

Computerized Registration 3 computers for new cases and 1 for old cases

Handles 200 cases per hour

Trained paramedical staff members do the preliminary checks on patients

Trained Refractionists do basic refraction tests

Patients meet resident Doctors

Final disposal of the case by the Permanent Doctor

Workflow In Surgical Wards
6:30- Nursing staff arrives

Patients are moved to the rooms adjacent to the OP Theater

Their names are put up in front of the OP theater

7 am doctors are in their surgical gown and masks

Local anesthetic injections ; Eyes washed and disinfected

7:15 Patients are laid on two adjacent tables

Total four operating tables and two operating Doctors

Doctors move closely between two tables thus reducing the time lag.
Treatment Rates
Rates charged for both operations and stay are moderate.
Paying patients have choice of type of surgery and quality of accommodation.
 Financial Self Sustainability
Despite having a majority of patients as free patients, Aravind Eye Care System had always been
financially self-supporting.
It did not depend on government grants or donations (except for the support given by the government
for eye camp patients).
 Community Outreach Programs

Eye Camps

Aravind conducts all its surgeries only in its base hospitals, where conditions are under full control.

Organizes about 1,500 eye camps per year, with the travel expenses of the doctors paid for by the
AEH Diabetic Retinopathy Management Project.

Started in 2000, this project aims at creating awareness about diabetic retinopathy in communities.

It consists of examining people for diabetes and then screening all diabetics for retinal disorders.

Patients needing surgery are so advised.

Extensive campaigns are also conducted through leaflets, posters, and booklets on diabetes and its
effects on the retina.
Community Based Rehabilitation Project

This is a project undertaken by the Theni unit since 1996 and supported by Sight
Savers International that aims at rehabilitating incurably blind persons through
community-based support.

House-to-house identification of eye problems and screening camps are organized and
patients with eye problems are treated.

Rehabilitation consisted of teaching the incurably blind people skills in orientation,

mobility, and activities of daily living.

Some were economically rehabilitated through building of appropriate skills.

Eye Screening Of School Children

This is another program aimed at screening school children for eye defects and taking
corrective measures early.

Teachers are trained to measure visual acuity and identify signs of squint and vitamin
deficiency and screen the children.

The identified children were then tested by ophthalmic assistants and later by
ophthalmologists.

In 2002, 68,528 children in 80 schools were screened.

3,075 were given glasses to correct refractive errors.

Refraction Camps

Detection and correction of refractive errors through spectacle lenses is one of the priorities for
reducing avoidable blindness by the global initiative Vision 2020: The Right to Sight,
launched in 1999 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Recognizing this, Aravind started conducting refraction camps in industries, offices, and so on

In these refraction camps, patients receive an eye examination and a prescription for glasses.

The patient can decide to purchase the spectacles at the camp itself.

He or she selects a frame and the dispensing is done on the spot for more than 85 percent of the
orders.

Such on-the-spot dispensing of glasses has now been integrated with the eye camps and school
screening camps as well.
Use Of IT Kiosks For Tele-advice

This initiative was launched with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
Chennai.

Under the guidance of Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a professor at IIT, Chennai, a number of
IT kiosks were put up all over Tamil Nadu by a company called n-Logue.

In one cluster of villages near Melur, about 40 kilometers from Madurai, the IT kiosks
were provided with Web cameras that enable patients to take a picture of their eyes and
send them as e-mail attachments along with a voice description of the problem to doctors
at AEH, Madurai.

One doctor is nominated to take care of these e-mails. The doctor makes the diagnosis
based on the description given by the patient and the picture sent, and gives advice to the
patient.
Other Units And Activities
Aurolab

In 1991,AEH set up the Aurolab for manufacturing IOLs.

Non profit trust with the mission of achieving local production at an appropriate cost

The technology was obtained from IOL International, Florida, USA, with a one-time fee paid to the
company for technology transfer.

Aurolab employs 220 people, of whom 10 percent are diploma or graduate engineers, pharmacists, and
marketing personnel, and 90 percent are specially trained women

High school girls with 12 years of formal education from rural areas are selected along with the selection of
the ophthalmic assistants for AEH.

In 1998,starts manufacturing sutures for IOL surgery.

Over the years, Aurolab has been organized into four distinct divisions: the IOL Division, the Sutures
Division (both described earlier), a Pharmaceutical Division, and a Spectacle Lens Division.
LAICO
It was established in 1992 with the support of Lions Club International Sight First Program and
Seva Sight Program.

The objective was to improve the planning, efficiency, and effectiveness of eye hospitals with a
special focus in the developing countries.

It contributes to eye care through teaching, training, research, and consultancy.

LAICO has already worked with 149 eye hospitals in India, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

It is Asias first international training facility for blindness prevention workers from India and
other parts of the world.

It also works closely with identified eye hospitals in their capacity building.

LAICO, in collaboration with the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), has
committed to achieving the Vision 2020: The Right to Sight global initiative.
 Aravind Medical Research Foundation

Aravind Center for Women, Children, and Community Health (ACWCCH)

This center, started in 1984, aimed at reducing nutrition-related blindness in children through
programs of preventive health care.

Rotary Aravind International Eye Bank

This eye bank, established in 1998, is one of the four eye banks in the country affiliated with the
International Federation of Eye Banks.

By 2003, the bank had processed 4,383 eyes, and the hospitals had conducted 2,181 transplants.

Aravind Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology

As part of its efforts to train ophthalmologists, AEH introduced the Residency (postgraduate)
Program in 1982.
Conclusion
The productivity of doctornurse teams is six times higher than it is in the rest of India and
considerably higher than anything in the United States.

The quality levels are above the gold standard.

The Aravind complex has now grown to include research, manufacturing of supplies, training,
and telemedicine.

Dr. V is not satisfied with his achievements; he is thirsting for more.

His vision is no longer focused on the AEHs, but on the larger issue of how to make an impact
on blindness and its cure.
THANK YOU