29th December – Finding a Vision

Madurai was our next stop. Madurai, the temple town of the south India, is home to 2500 year old Meenakshi temple. As our yatra wasn’t a leisure trip but an entrepreneurial one, we headed directly to the yatra’s next social enterprise; Aravind Eye care. As the bus made its way through the roads of Tamil Nadu, I noticed that the walls on the sides of the pavement were either painted with ‘larger than life’ political figures or plastered with huge Tamil movie posters.

Story of Aravind Eye Care – Giving Vision to the Bottom of the Pyramid
“Intelligence and capability are not enough, there must be a joy of doing something beautiful” –the philosophy with which late Dr. G. Venkataswamy the founded of Aravind Eye Care. After Dr. V’s retirement from the army at the age of 58, he thought he still had much more to do with his life. Thus, Aravind Eye care was born with only 11 beds in 1978. “Today, Aravind Eye Care has five eye hospitals and 33 primary eye care centres, which cater to 70% of Tamil Nadu’s, 8% of our country's and 3% of the world’s eye patients,” Dr Arvind from Aravind Eye Care.

But this is not just a success story. The business model it’s run on is what is striking and sets it apart from any other eye care hospital in the world. World statistics show that 80% of the blindnesses are curable. Aravind Eye Care was started with a vision to end needless blindness. Dr. V observed that the blind in the rural and poorer parts of Tamil Nadu lost vision in the later part of their lives due to their inaccessibility to Cataract treatment. He started catering to the needs of that segment of the market where healthcare had never reached. And, the hospital doesn’t charge the poor at all!! 60% of the cataract operations performed in the hospital are free of cost. The hospital works on the cross subsidy model. 40% of the patients, who can afford the treatment, pay, and the rest don’t. A paid patient takes care of himself and one more patient in addition to providing a little surplus to the hospital.

Surprised? Not much? Okay, I’ll add one more fact that makes Aravind Eye Care different. The patients don’t come to the hospital to be treated. The hospital goes out to them. The eye care centres moves from one village to another, to set up rural eye camps which select people who need treatment. About 30 camps are conducted in a week. These camps reach out to almost 6, 76, 000 villagers every year! These villagers are then picked up by hospital and taken to the hospital for the treatment. They are transported back into their villages in two days after the operation. All of this is free of cost. Still, Aravind Eye Care has three times returns on investment!

You would be wondering how this is possible. Aravind Eye Care’s workforce constitutes of 90% women. Most of these women are only high school pass who have been trained by Aravind Eye Care in eye healthcare. These are the women who run eye camps in villages and also work in the hospital. Only the surgery is taken care of by the doctors. “Aravind can work without doctors but not without mid level workers,” Dr. Arvind stated in the presentation. Aravind Eye Care trains about 300+ high school girls and recruits them into the hospital chain. So, cheap but effective labour is the mantra!

When Dr. V started this hospital, he wanted to replicate the McDonalds franchise model i.e. Mass production, consistent good quality and a self sustaining model. And that’s exactly what he has done, only at a much lower cost!