Govindappa Venkataswamy

Govindappa Venkataswamy was an Indian ophthalmologist who dedicated his life to eliminate needless blindness. He was the founder and former chairman of Aravind Eye Hospitals, the largest provider of eye care in the world.

Born: 1 October 1918, Tamil Nadu

Died: 7 July 2006, Madurai

Awards: Padma Shri

Education: American College, Madurai, Stanley Medical College

Organization founded: Aravind Eye Hospitals

Govindappa Venkataswamy (1 October 1918 – 7 July 2006) was an Indian ophthalmologist who dedicated his life to eliminate needless blindness. He was the founder and former chairman of Aravind Eye Hospitals, the largest provider of eye care in the world.He is best known for developing a high quality, high volume, low-cost service delivery model that has restored sight to millions of people. Since inception, Aravind Eye Care System (a registered non-profit organisation) has seen over 55 million patients, and performed over 6.8 million surgeries. Over 50% of the organisation's patients pay either nothing or highly subsidised rates. Revenues from patients who choose to pay subsidise care for the rest. Aravind regularly runs a surplus primarily through earned revenue from patient services, and does not solicit donations for its core activities. Its scale and self-sustainability prompted a 1993 Harvard Business Case Study on the Aravind model.

Dr V was permanently crippled by rheumatoid arthritis at age 30. He trained as an ophthalmologist, and personally performed over 100,000 eye surgeries. As a government servant he helped develop and pioneer the concept of eye camps and received a Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1973. in 1976, at the age of 58, he retired from government service and founded Aravind in Madurai, Tamil Nadu along with his four siblings and their spouses. The hospital began as an 11-bed clinic that operated out of a rented house. Today, the Aravind Eye Care System includes a network of 7 tertiary care eye hospitals, 6 secondary eye care centres, 6 community eye clinics and 70 primary eye care centres in South India.

In 1992, Dr V and partners of Aravind founded Aurolab, an internationally certified manufacturing facility that brought the price of the intraocular lens down to one-tenth of international prices, making it affordable for developing countries.^[7] Today, Aurolab manufactures ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, instruments and equipment, in addition to intraocular lenses, and exports to 160 countries worldwide. In 1996, under Dr V's leadership, the Lions Aravind Institute for Community Ophthalmology (LAICO) was founded. LAICO is a training and consulting institute that has helped replicate the Aravind model in 347 hospitals across India and 30 other developing countries.

Over his lifetime, Dr V built a wide network of partnerships with institutions in India and abroad that continue to work with his organisation. Over 35 members of his extended family, including more than 25 eye surgeons across three generations of his family, work at Aravind. Dr V was a disciple of spiritual teachers Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa (The Mother). In his words: “Aravind Hospital aims at bringing higher consciousness to transform mind and body and soul of people. It is not a mechanical structure repairing eyes. It has a deeper purpose. It is not about buildings, equipment, money or material things, but a matter of consciousness.”^[10] His life work is documented in a film and book, both titled Infinite Vision