The Cataract Blindness Challenge Innovations Case Discussion: Aravind Eye Care System)

Abstract

world,” accompanied by a prize of Euro 1 million, was given in 2007 to the Aravind Eye Hospitals in Tamil Nadu, India. They could not have made a better choice. Aravind Eye Hospitals are the highest volume cataract surgery facility in the world. Their five hospitals examined over 2.3 million people and performed over 270,000 surgeries in 2006. Aravind is not only the highest volume cataract surgery system in the world but also a trendsetter that has lifted the quality of cataract surgery in India and set a new paradigm for delivering high volume, high-quality surgery to the poor in a self sustaining manner. The founding genius was a spiritual guru for all who now work in international eye care. Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy, affectionately known by family and friends as “Dr. V,” passed away at age 87 in July 2006. He was born in 1918 in a poor farming village. There was no school in his village. After tending the water buffalo in the mornings, he would walk more than three miles to school every day. When a school finally came to his community, there were no writing materials and the students learned to write with sticks in the sand on the floor of their thatched roofed schoolroom. Despite these obstacles, the brilliant young Venkataswamy earned a scholarship to Stanley Medical College in Madras. Because of three cousins who died during childbirth, he chose to specialize in obstetrics. In his final year of training Dr. V was stricken with a severe form of rheumatoid arthritis. The young Venkataswamy was hospitalized for nearly two years. Agonized by constant, severe, physical pain he watched helplessly as his fingers twisted and deformed to the point where he knew he would be unable to work as an obstetrician, delivering babies. He sought spiritual solace through the philosoGeoffrey Tabin