Dr. V, popularly known as the founder of Aravind Eye Care System, started with a modest 11 bed hospital with a goal of eradicating needless blindness. Aravind has now expanded to include multiple hospitals, an eye care manufacturing facility, a training institute, and outreach programs. Through high productivity, volume-focused surgeries, and training local nurses, Aravind is able to provide free or low-cost eye care to poor patients while maintaining high quality standards. The organization aims to make eye care accessible to all people in Tamil Nadu through extensive outreach camps and hospitals.

1. By: Kritika Garg

2. popularly referred to as Dr. V
A person seized with a
passion to eradicate needless
blindness

4.  Started with a modest 11 bed hospital
 Under a no profit no loss trust…

5.  Now….not merely a chain of hospitals, but an eye care
 manufacturing synthetic lenses, sutures,
 Eye pharmaceuticals, an institute for training, research,
 Eye bank, a women and child care centre, a post graduate
institute of ophthalmology
 outreach programs……….and much more.

6.  Time management while conducting surgeries
 Conducting camps in rural areas
 Give free treatment to poor patients
 Train nurses from nearby villages

7.  No “five star” customers to cross subsidize the
poor Patients.
 Emphasize on high productivity and volume
 No surgeries were done at the eye camp
sites, all patients were checked at the camp
 Those needing surgery were brought to the
main hospital

8.  The workflow in the outpatient department, whether at the paying or free
hospital was essentially the same
 The hospital starts to let the first patient enter at 7:00 AM itself
 The computerized registration had made work easier, organised and
eradicate the need to same person for handling the same case every time
 Same data based is used and worked upon by different departments.
 Patients were escorted to the doctors by the staff
 Trained paramedical staff did the preliminary checks
 Counselor also provider to the patient for extra help like registering for the
room in case of surgery, type of room to be taken, requirement of particular
doctor for the surgery, type of surgery etc.

9.  At 7 A.M., the doctor and the case writer were in the surgical gowns and
masks.
 The nursing staff had already come at 6.30 A.M
 While one patient is under surgery, the other one is being prepared side by
side for the surgery
 This model shows that the flow of patients in the ward is given due
consideration , and that too without compromising with quality or time of
surgery.
 They are very peculiar about the quality of surgery, instruments used,
methods of surgery, hygiene etc.

10.  The eye camps were operated with a mission to make facility of eye care
reach people at every nook and corner of Tamil Nadu
 This aims at providing eye care even to those who are ignorant and
unaware about their eye problems.
 Not doing any surgery in camps shows that the doctors are very peculiar
about the procedure of surgery and other hygienic measures

12.  This model was very different form other models of social and commercial
entrepreneurship.
 You don’t very often come across organizations wherein every employee
works towards a single, unified and impactful goal.
 Here’s an organization that has been created on a strong foundation of
understanding the lives of its customers, and with the vision of improving
them by each and every employee of the organization
 The model is a great case study on multiple areas – Strategy, marketing,
design thinking, leadership and operations.

13. Leadership
 There are small things when done right, allow employees to be
accountable and empower them to lead the way in their own respective
work.
 So, it’s not just imparting the strong sense of purpose, but guiding and
encouraging employees to achieve small goals to make the big vision
happen
Marketting
 employees and the doctors advising on the best possible solution to the
patients – this resulting in a very high level of association and customer
loyalty towards Aravind and of course a repeat customer base of close to
100%
 empathizing with the consumer of their services comes very naturally to
each employee.

14.  The success of the model to a large extent has emanated from their
strategy.
 The sense of purpose of the organization has been very clear, not just in
the minds of their founders, but has been deliberately been reinforced into
all its employees – to cure needless blindness, mostly caused by
cataract. This can be rectified by a minor 15 min surgery in most
cases.
 employees at Aravind work beyond the usual desire of just making a career
or earning an income.
 At every stage they see themselves as improving the lives of people and
bringing about a large impact to the society