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{{short description|Network of eye hospitals in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox hospital
| name = Aravind Eye Hospitals
| logo = Aravind Eye Care System logo.png
| logo_size =
| image = File:Aravind eye hospital madurai1.JPG
| image_alt =
| caption = Aravind Eye Hospital, [[Madurai]]
| location = [[Tamil Nadu, India]]
| region = 
| state = Tamil Nadu
| country = India
| coordinates =
| address =
| healthcare = 
| funding = 
| type = Specialist
| speciality = [[Ophthalmology]]
| network = Aravind Eye Care System
| beds = 4000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aravind.org/default/clinicscontent/hospitals|title=Aravind Eye Hospital- Locations|access-date=2015-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504012637/http://www.aravind.org/Default/clinicscontent/hospitals|archive-date=2015-05-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| founded = {{Start date and age|1976||}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.aravind.org/}}
| other_links =
}}

'''Aravind Eye Hospitals''' is a hospital chain in [[India]]. It was founded by Dr. [[Govindappa Venkataswamy]] at [[Madurai]], [[Tamil Nadu]] in 1976. It has grown into a network of eye hospitals and has had a major impact in eradicating [[cataract]] related blindness in India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aravind.org/|title=About Aravind Eye Hospitals}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jayaseelan-naidoo/an-infinite-vision-the-st_b_1511540.html/|title=An Infinite Vision: The Story of Aravind Eye Hospital|website=[[HuffPost]] |date=15 May 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/16/in-india-leading-a-hospital-franchise-with-vision/|title=A Hospital Network With a Vision|date=16 January 2013 }}</ref> As of 2012, Aravind has treated nearly 32 million patients and performed 4 million surgeries. The model of Aravind Eye Care hospitals has been applauded and has become a subject for numerous case studies across the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hbr.org/product/aravind-eye-hospital-madurai-india-in-service-for-sight/593098-PDF-ENG|title=Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight}}</ref><ref>[https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/download/attachments/9994241/aravind+case.pdf?version=1 Aravind Eye Care System:Giving them the most precious gift] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610153438/https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/download/attachments/9994241/aravind%2Bcase.pdf?version=1 |date=10 June 2014 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.northeastern.edu/sei/2011/10/aravind-eye-care-system-case/ Aravind Eye Care System, North western University]</ref>

== History ==
Cataracts are a major source of blindness in India, with at least 4 million cases reported every year, contributing to nearly to a quarter of the world's blind. Cataract related blindness can be avoided by timely intervention and surgery.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0315/companies-india-madurai-blindness-nam-familys-vision.html|title=Aravind Eye Care's Vision for India|website=[[Forbes]] }}</ref>

== The Aravind Model ==
Dr. Venkataswamy's vision was to eradicate needless blindness in India. Dr. Venkataswamy wanted to emulate the service efficiency of [[McDonald's]] fast food and sought to adapt it to the eye care system to cope with increasing the numbers of patients treated. Aravind began performing surgeries on a large scale with treatment being free or heavily subsidized for the poor cross subsidized by the paying patients.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0315/companies-india-madurai-blindness-mcdonalds-and-dr-v.html|title=McDonald's and Dr. V.|website=[[Forbes]] }}</ref> Aravind established an outreach program wherein doctors reach out to remote villages to conduct eye camps, some times, in association with various organizations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://218.248.31.202/Nithyatha/files/Aravind_Harvard_Study_2003.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506091406/http://218.248.31.202/Nithyatha/files/Aravind_Harvard_Study_2003.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-05-06 |title=Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: Harvard case study }}</ref> The organizations take care of the costs of the camp, transporting the patients to surgery and their rehabilitation while Aravind does the surgery free of cost. Aravind started performing 5 times the number of cataract surgeries that were performed in the entire country and 16 times more than that of the entire U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/11/29/142526263/india-eye-care-center-finds-middle-way-to-capitalism/|title=India eye care center finds middle way to capitalism|website=[[NPR]] }}</ref>

Aravind focused on rotating doctors between free and paid wards, concentrating on efficiency and hygiene thus eliminating differences between the surgeries done for paid and non-paid patients. The rate of infection in Aravind was about four per ten thousand surgeries which was significantly lower than the international norm of six per ten thousand surgeries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://healthmarketinnovations.org/program/aravind-eye-care-system-aecs|title=Aravind eye care system}}</ref>

== Hospitals and facilities ==
Aravind Hospital started in 1976 as an 11-bed hospital in Madurai. Aravind opened a hospital in [[Theni]] in 1985 and [[Tirunelveli]] in 1988. The hospital at [[Coimbatore]] was founded in 1997. Aravind later expanded to five more cities in [[Tamil Nadu]] including [[Tirupur]], [[Salem, Tamil Nadu|Salem]], [[Dindigul]], [[Thoothukudi]], [[Udumalaipettai]] and neighboring [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]]. To commemorate Dr. V's birth centenary, [[Chennai|Arvind-Chennai]], the largest among all Aravind Eye Hospitals, was established in September 2017.<ref>{{cite web |title=Aravind Eye Hospital-Chennai |url=https://aravind.org/hospitals/chennai/ |access-date=25 September 2019}}</ref> In 2019, with the support of [[Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams|TTD]], who allocated the land at a nominal lease, Sri Venkateswara Aravind Eye Hospital, [[Tirupati]] branch was established in March 2019 to provide access to 14 million population of Chittoor, Nellore, Kadapa, Anantapur and neighbouring districts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sri Venkateswara Aravind Eye Hospital, Tirupati |url=https://aravind.org/hospitals/tirupati/ |access-date=25 September 2019}}</ref>

The group also has four partnership projects — with the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in [[Amethi]], another in [[Lucknow]], [[Birla Corporation]] in [[Kolkata]] and [[Sun Pharma|Shanghvi Trust]] in [[Amreli]], [[Gujarat]]. Aravind also set up its first overseas venture in [[Nigeria]] in 2018 in partnership with Chanrai Group, which is probably the largest eye-care facility in Africa with a capacity to perform 10,000 surgeries annually.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/farsighted-aravind-eye-care-to-set-up-hospital-in-nigeria/article5597886.ece|title=Far-sighted: Aravind Eye Care to set up hospital in Nigeria|date=20 January 2014 }}</ref>

=== LAICO ===
Aravind established Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology (LAICO) in association with [[Lions International]] in 1992. The institute offers training for hospital administrators, hospital operations managers and other management professionals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icoph.org/events/event_detail/339/LAICO-Management-Training-and-System-Development-Course.html|title=LAICO Management Training and System Development Course}}</ref>

=== Aurolab ===
The lens (IOL) implanted during cataract surgery improves visual outcomes and, thereby, quality of life. However, the high cost threatened Aravind's ability to provide IOLs to its poorer patients in the late 1980s. This led to Aravind establishing <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aurolab.com/aboutus.asp|title=Aurolab|website=www.aurolab.com|access-date=2018-10-01}}</ref> Aurolab, a manufacturing facility, which introduced IOLs at $10 while others were selling them at $60-$100. Aurolab now manufactures a little more than two million lenses annually and exports to 160 countries. About 60% of Aurolab's sales go to non-profit organizations. Aurolab now produces high-quality IOLs, sutures, blades, pharmaceuticals, and equipment at a fraction of their cost in the west, enabling Aravind and other providers to maintain quality and equity in care. Aurolab now meets over 10% of developing countries' needs.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

=== Aravind Eyebank ===
Aravind has established four [[eye banks]] viz. Rotary Aravind International Eye Bank in [[Madurai]] in association with [[Rotary International]] (1998), Aravind – IOB Eye bank in [[Coimbatore]] in association with [[Indian Overseas Bank]] (1998), Rotary Aravind Eye Bank in [[Tirunelveli]] in association with Rotary International (2004) and Aravind Eye Bank Association in [[Puducherry (union territory)|Puducherry]] (2005).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aravind.org/default/eyedonationcontent/aboutEyebanks|title=Aravind, eyebanks|access-date=2015-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518080022/http://www.aravind.org/default/eyedonationcontent/aboutEyebanks|archive-date=2015-05-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Awards and recognition ==
* [[Global Health Council#Gates Award|Gates Award for Global Health]] (2008)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gatesfoundation.org/media-center/speeches/2008/05/william-h-gates-sr-2008-gates-award-for-global-health/|title=2008 Gates Award for Global Health}}</ref>
* Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize (2010)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/indias-aravind-eye-care-system-gets-hilton-prize-91428004/114877.html|title=India's Aravind Eye Care System Gets Hilton Prize}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Health in Tamil Nadu}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Hospitals in Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Hospitals in Madurai]]
[[Category:Hospitals in Puducherry]]
[[Category:Ophthalmology organizations]]
[[Category:Hospitals established in 1976]]
[[Category:Indian companies established in 1976]]
[[Category:Eye hospitals in India]]
[[Category:1976 establishments in Tamil Nadu]]

Aravind Eye Hospitals - Revision history

Victoruot at 12:02, 24 March 2026