ARAVIND EYE CARE SYSTEM: GIVING THEM THE MOST PRECIOUS GIFT (R1)
It was year 1976. Padmashree Dr. G. Venkataswamy , popularly referred to as Dr. V., had just retired from the Government Medical College, Madurai as the Head of the Department of Ophthalmology. Rather than settling for a quiet retired life, Dr. V. was determined to continue the work he was doing at the Government Medical College, especially organizing rural eye camps to check sight, prescribe needed corrective glasses, do cataract and other surgeries as needed and advise corrective and preventive measures: in short, providing quality eye care. This was to be provided to the poor and the rich alike. To Dr. V., this was more than a job to spend his time: he was a person seized with a passion to eradicate needless blindness. For an estimated 45 million people worldwide, and ten million in India, the precious gift of sight had been snatched away, most often quite needlessly. His vision was simple yet grand: eradicate needless blindness at least in Tamil Nadu, his home state, if not in the entire India.
With this mission, after his retirement, Dr. V formed a non-profit trust, namely, the Govel Trust with himself as the Chairman and his two brothers, two sisters and their spouses, and an ex officio member, namely, the Madurai Main Rotary President as trust members. In 1976, the Govel Trust began with running a modest 11 bed hospital, named as the Aravind Eye Hospital, in Dr. V.’s brother's house at Madurai, with a mission of serving the poor blind people. In this hospital, five beds were for patients who would pay to get treatment and six were reserved for those who would be offered free treatment.
By 2003, the humble 11 bed hospital had grown into The Aravind Eye Care System. The ...