Dr. V. was a doctor in the Indian army who originally wanted to do obstetrics because he couldn't understand why so many of the young women in his village died from complications related to childbirth. Unfortunately, soon after World War II, he developed rheumatoid arthritis and was discharge from the army and was told he would be unable to deliver babies due to his disease. So, he decided to become an ophthalmologist.
After he retired in the 1970s, he decided that the next logical thing to do would be to found a hospital for people with eye diseases. In 1976, Aravind Eye H
ospital was founded in Madurai. Dr. V.didn't want to turn anyone away due to inability to pay, so he asked people who could afford it to pay and he treated everyone else for free. By the time he died in 2006, Dr. V. performed over 100,000 surgeries. Seriously. That's not a typo. The man, even with rheumatoid arthritis, performed 100,000 surgeries.
The paying hospital (300 beds):
The free hospital (600 beds):
The new hospital (opening in a month):
For every one paid patient they see, the treat two for free (and I'll tell you how tomorrow). Aravind now consists of (around India) 7 hospitals , forty clinics and weekly "camps" where they screen and treat massive numbers of patients for eye diseases. Last year, they performed 350,000 surgeries and saw two million patients, for about $20 million. They basically performed 2/3 as many cataract surgeries as the NHS in the UK for about 1% the cost (also tomorrow), all with a lower complication rate.
Along with the hospitals, they have a research center:
I'll be spending most of my time at the hospital but some of the time in the clinic.
To give you an idea of the quality of the surgical care here, there were two ophthalmology resident from the US here to learn some techniques and to see some patients they wouldn't get to see in the US. The residents were from Johns Hopkins and UCSF.
Anyway, it's bedtime now. More tomorrow.
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