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{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Govindappa Venkataswamy
| image = Chief in desk.jpg
| imagesize = 150px
| caption = Govindappa Venkataswamy
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1918|10|1}}
| birth_place = Ayan Vadamalapuram, [[Vilathikulam]], [[Thoothukudi District]],<br/>[[Madras Presidency]], [[British India]] (now in [[Tamil Nadu]], India)
| height =
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2006|7|7|1918|10|1}}
| death_place = [[Madurai]], Tamil Nadu, India
| birth_name = Govindappa Venkataswamy
| othername = Dr V
| website =
| occupation = ophthalmologist
| spouse =
}}
'''Govindappa Venkataswamy''' (1 October 1918 – 7 July 2006) popularly known as 'Dr V.' was an Indian ophthalmologist who dedicated his life to eliminate needless blindness. He was the founder and former chairman of Aravind Eye Hospitals. He is best known for developing a high quality, high volume, low-cost service delivery model that has restored sight to millions of people. Since inception, Aravind Eye Care System (a registered non-profit organisation) has seen over 55 million patients, and performed over 6.8 million surgeries.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|last=Mehta|first=Pavithra|last2=Shenoy|first2=Suchitra|publisher=Harper Collins India|year=2012|isbn=978-9350292136|location=India|pages=289, 290}}</ref> Over 50% of the organisation's patients pay either nothing or highly subsidised rates.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://nextbillion.net/where-free-profitable-impact-and-scale-intersect/|title=Where Free, Profitable, Impact and Scale Intersect: Insights From the Story of Aravind|last=Samaranayake|first=Sadna|date=2011-11-16|work=NextBillion|access-date=2018-09-28|language=en-US}}</ref> Its scale and self-sustainability prompted a 1993 Harvard Business Case Study on the Aravind model.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rangan|first=V. Kasturi|date=1993-04-01|title=Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight, The|url=https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=19682|language=en-us}}</ref>

Venkataswamy was permanently crippled by rheumatoid arthritis at age 30. He trained as an ophthalmologist, and personally performed over 100,000 eye surgeries.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://ascrs.org/honorees/govindappa-venkataswamy-md|title=Govindappa Venkataswamy, MD {{!}} ASCRS|website=ascrs.org|language=en|access-date=2018-09-28}}</ref> As a government servant he helped develop and pioneer the concept of eye camps and received a Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1973.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009)|publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1992, Venkataswamy and partners of Aravind founded Aurolab,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aurolab.com/aboutus.asp|title=Aurolab|website=www.aurolab.com|access-date=2018-10-01}}</ref> an internationally certified manufacturing facility that brought the price of the intraocular lens down to one-tenth of international prices, making it affordable for developing countries.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/special/innovation-special-aurolab-eye-care/story/195886.html|title=Aurolab: Eyeing Success|last=Madhavan|first=N.|work=Business Today}}</ref> Today, Aurolab manufactures ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, instruments and equipment, in addition to intraocular lenses, and exports to 160 countries worldwide. In 1996, under Venkataswamy's leadership, the Lions Aravind Institute for Community Ophthalmology (LAICO) was founded.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://laico.org/index.php/who-we-are/about-us|title=Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology|website=www.laico.org|access-date=2018-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001182143/http://laico.org/index.php/who-we-are/about-us/|archive-date=1 October 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> LAICO is a training and consulting institute that has helped replicate the Aravind model in 347 hospitals across India and 30 other developing countries.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/an-engagement-that-multiplies-performance/article25077898.ece|title=An engagement that multiplies performance|last=Basu|first=Soma|date=2018-09-29|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-09-29|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Born in 1918 in a poor farming village, Venkataswamy was the eldest of five children in a farming family.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tabin|first=Geoffrey|date=October 2007|title=The Cataract Blindness Challenge Innovations Case Discussion: Aravind Eye Care System)|journal=Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization|volume=2|issue=4|pages=53–57|doi=10.1162/itgg.2007.2.4.53|issn=1558-2477|doi-access=free}}</ref> He walked two kilometres to school each day and his early lessons were written in sand from the riverbed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archives.digitaltoday.in/businesstoday/20040118/profile6.html|title=Man of Vision|last=Varadarajan|first=Nitya|website=archives.digitaltoday.in|access-date=2018-09-29}}</ref> There were no doctors in his village, and by the age of 10 he had lost three cousins due to pregnancy-related complications. The untimely deaths spurred his decision to become a doctor.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|url=https://archive.org/details/infinitevisionho00meht|url-access=limited|last=Mehta|first=Pavithra|last2=Shenoy|first2=Suchitra|publisher=Berrett-Koehler|year=2011|isbn=9781605099798|location=San Francisco|pages=[https://archive.org/details/infinitevisionho00meht/page/n71 59]}}</ref> As a young man, he followed the teachings of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Swami Vivekananda]] and [[Sri Aurobindo]]. Venkataswamy earned a bachelor of science in chemistry in 1938 from [[American College, Madurai]]. In 1944 he received his medical degree from Stanley Medical College in Madras, graduating second in his class. In 1951 he qualified with an MS in Ophthalmology at Government Ophthalmic Hospital, Madras. He was in medical school when his father died, leaving him the head of the family. After receiving his medical degree, Venkataswamy served as a physician with the [[Indian Army]] from 1945 to 1948. He was discharged after contracting a rare form of [[rheumatoid arthritis]]. He was 30-years-old at the time. The condition permanently twisted his fingers out of shape, and left him bed-ridden for two years.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Illuminated Spirit|last=Venkataswamy|first=Govindappa|publisher=New York: Paulist Press|year=1994|location=USA}}</ref> Upon his return to medicine his condition barred him from training in [[obstetrics]], his chosen field. He decided to train instead in [[ophthalmology]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|url=https://archive.org/details/infinitevisionho00meht|url-access=limited|last=Mehta|first=Pavithra|last2=Shenoy|first2=Suchitra|publisher=Berrett-Koehler|year=2011|isbn=9781605099798|location=San Francisco|pages=[https://archive.org/details/infinitevisionho00meht/page/n72 60], 61}}</ref>

In 1956, he was appointed head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Government Madurai Medical College and eye surgeon at the Government Erskine Hospital in Madurai. He held these posts for 20 years. In 1965, at a conference on rehabilitation for the blind, Venkataswamy met [[John Wilson (blind activist)|Sir John Wilson]], founder of the [[Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind]] (later known as [[Sightsavers]] International). The latter had been blinded in childhood by an accident in his school chemistry lab. The two established a lifelong friendship. Venkataswamy. credits Sir John Wilson's mentorship for helping him develop a global view on blindness prevention. The two men met with then Prime Minister, [[Indira Gandhi]], to help launch India's National Program for the Control of Blindness. Venkataswamy then led Tamil Nadu's initiative to establish mobile eye camps that took sight-restoring services into rural India. He established a rehabilitation centre for the blind in 1966, and an Ophthalmic Assistants Training program in 1973. In his clinical work, Venkataswamy personally performed over one hundred thousand successful eye surgeries. With Wilson's support, Venkataswamy also started India's first residential nutrition rehabilitation centre in Madurai where children with potentially blinding Vitamin A deficiency received treatment, while their mothers were given training in how to grow and prepare nutritional meals.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: The World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|last=Mehta|first=Pavithra|last2=Shenoy|first2=Suchitra|publisher=Harper Collins|year=2012|pages=64}}</ref>

==Study of Aravind Model==
Venkataswamy pioneered mobile eye camps with the government, and later implemented this practice at Aravind. Teams of doctors and nurses from Aravind regularly visit rural villages where they conduct 'eye camps' that screen patients for vision impairments. Those requiring glasses receive them on site. Patients requiring surgery are brought back to an Aravind hospital, where they receive surgery, room and board, return transport and a follow up visit at no charge. Each year Aravind hosts over 2,500 camps, averaging 40 camps every week with 500 community partners.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|last=Mehta|first=Pavithra|last2=Shenoy|first2=Suchitra|publisher=Harper Collins|year=2012|isbn=9789351160021|location=India|pages=30, 32}}</ref>

Venkataswamy introduced a tiered pricing system at Aravind. There are no income assessments or eligibility criteria for free or subsidised treatment. Patients decide whether they would like to access free, subsidised or paid services. Within this system, a cataract operation ranges from free to a little under US$900 (~ Rs. 53,700) based on the accommodations associated with the surgery and the type of lens implanted.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|last=Mehta|first=Pavithra|last2=Shenoy|first2=Suchitra|publisher=Harper Collins India|year=2012|location=India|pages=289}}</ref> Patients can self-select services and room type based on preference and ability to pay, without compromising clinical outcomes. In practice, one patient who pays, subsidises the no-frills surgeries and pre- and post-operative care of two non-paying patients.<ref name=":6" />

Nurses, known within the Aravind system as Mid-Level Ophthalmic Personnel (MLOP), are trained extensively in discrete skills, and specialise in different areas of the hospital work flow, including administrative work, diagnostics, nursing and counseling.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|url=https://nextbillion.net/three-decades-in-the-making/|title=Three Decades in the Making, How the Aravind Model Came into Focus - NextBillion|date=2011-11-18|work=NextBillion|access-date=2018-09-29|language=en-US}}</ref> The MLOPs are primarily women who are high-school graduates recruited from surrounding villages. In the operating room each surgeon, is assisted by four MLOPs. With stream-lined processes, Aravind averages 2,000 surgeries per doctor per year compared to a national average of 400.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0315/companies-india-madurai-blindness-nam-familys-vision.html#2e33ce265c7e|title=Aravind Eye Care's Vision for India|last=Karmali|first=Naazneen|work=Forbes|access-date=2018-09-30|language=en}}</ref> Tina Rosenberg for ''The New York Times'' writes, "Aravind can practice compassion successfully because it is run like a McDonald’s with assembly-line efficiency, strict quality norms, brand recognition, standardization, consistency, ruthless cost control and above all, volume. Each year, Aravind does 60 percent as many eye surgeries as the United Kingdom’s National Health System, at one one-thousandth of the cost."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Routledge Handbook of Entrepreneurship in Developing Economies|last=Williams|first=Collin|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|isbn=9781317535140}}</ref>

Since 1993 Harvard Business School has distributed more than 150,000 copies of 'In Service for Sight' (their original case study on the Aravind model) to the top twenty business schools in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|url=https://archive.org/details/infinitevisionho00meht|url-access=limited|last=Mehta|first=Pavithra|last2=Shenoy|first2=Suchitra|publisher=Berrett Koehler|year=2012|location=USA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/infinitevisionho00meht/page/n64 52]}}</ref>

== Founding of Aravind ==
In 1976, at the mandatory retirement age of 58, Venkataswamy founded the [[Aravind Eye Hospital]] in Madurai, Tamil Nadu with his four siblings, G. Nallakrishnan, R. Janaky, G. Srinivasan, G. Natchiar and their respective spouses, Meenakshi, R.S. Ramasamy, Lalitha S. and P. Namperumalsamy. Together, they formed the Govel Trust to manage the hospital, and defined Aravind's mission: To eliminate needless blindness by providing high quality and compassionate eye care affordable for all. P. Namperumalsamy's sister, P. Vijayalakshmi and her husband, M. Srinivasan also joined his work. In the initial years he and his team faced many financial difficulties. Venkataswamy is the founding member of [[Seva Foundation]] (a US-based non-profit organisation), that partnered with Aravind in the early years by widening the organisation's access to the latest technology, and skilled volunteers. Seva continues to collaborate with Aravind in various aspects of eye care management, education, and research.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/eye-doc-makes-annual-india-trip-strengthens-partnership-to-prevent/article_fb171706-1e72-11e8-9f75-8b87411b1134.html|title=Eye Doc Makes Annual India Trip, Strengthens Partnership to Prevent, Reverse Blindness|last=India-West|first=SEVERN WILLIAMS, Special to|work=India West|access-date=2018-09-30|language=en}}</ref> Today, the Aravind Eye Care System encompasses a growing network of eye care facilities which include seven tertiary centres, six secondary hospitals, six outpatient eye examination centres and seventy primary eye examination facilities, as well as a post-graduate training institute for ophthalmology, an international eye research centre, eye bank, training and consulting institute and manufacturing facility.

== Personal life ==
Venkataswamy never married. He lived with his younger brother G. Srinivasan (Aravind Eye Care System's Director of Finance and Building) and his family. Today, over 35 members across three generations of Venkataswamy's family work at Aravind.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Manikutty|first=Sankaran|date=September 2017|title=Aravind Eye Care System: Retaining the Legacy|url=https://hbr.org/product/aravind-eye-care-system-retaining-the-legacy/ISB090-HCB-ENG|journal=Harvard Business Review}}</ref> Venkataswamy was a Gandhian and a disciple of the spiritual teachers [[Sri Aurobindo]] and [[Mirra Alfassa|the Mother.]] Former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a friend of his, wrote, "In the Aravind experience I see the path we need to take, a transformation of life into a powerful instrument of right action."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India|last=Kalam|first=A.P.J. Abdul|publisher=Penguin|year=2002}}</ref>

== Quotes of Govindappa Venkataswamy ==
* When we grow in spiritual consciousness, we identify ourselves with all that is in the world, and there is no exploitation. It is ourselves we are helping. It is ourselves we are healing.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|pages=285}}</ref>
* Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful."<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion|last=Mehta|first=Pavithra|last2=Shenoy|first2=Suchitra|publisher=Berrett Koehler|year=2011}}</ref>
* To some of us bringing divine consciousness to our daily activities is the Goal. The Hospital work gives an opportunity for this spiritual growth. In your growth you widen your consciousness and you feel the suffering of others in you.<ref name=":3" />
* Aravind Hospital aims at bringing higher consciousness to transform mind and body and soul of people. It is not a mechanical structure repairing eyes. It has a deeper purpose. It is not about buildings, equipment, money or material things, but a matter of consciousness.<ref name=":3" />
* You don't just find people. You have to "build" them.<ref name=":3" />
* To keep the mind absolutely still, to understand the reaction, impulse and attitude and to work from the Soul is the Aim.<ref name=":3" />
* To get things done in a big and permanent way it must be done spiritually.<ref name=":3" />

== Books, films and other media ==
;Books
* ''Illuminated Spirit'' by Govindappa Venkataswamy
* ''Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion''
* ''Namaste, Dr. V! He restored eyesight for the most marginalised''

;Films
* ''Infinite Vision''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=74|title=Infinite Vision {{!}} KarmaTube|website=www.karmatube.org|access-date=2018-09-30}}</ref>
* ''Healing the Eyes of the World''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=7831|title=Healing the Eyes of the World {{!}} KarmaTube|website=www.karmatube.org|access-date=2018-09-30}}</ref>
* ''PBS Religion and News Weekly''<ref>{{Citation|title=Aravind Eye Hospital {{!}} Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly|url=https://www.pbs.org/video/religion-ethics-newsweekly-aravind-eye-hospital/|language=en-US|access-date=2018-09-30}}</ref>

;Interviews
* Spiritual Consciousness and Healing<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/856819|title=Spiritual Consciousness and Healing: An Interview With Govindappa Venkataswamy|last=Missy|first=Daniel|website=repository.library.georgetown.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-09-30}}</ref>

;Media articles
* The Perfect Vision of Dr Venkataswamy (Fast Company, 2001)<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/42111/perfect-vision-dr-v|title=The Perfect Vision of Dr V.|last=Rubin|first=Harriet|date=2001-01-31|work=Fast Company|access-date=2018-09-29|language=en-US}}</ref>
* Man of Vision (Business Today, 2004)
* McDonalds and Dr Venkataswamy (Forbes, 2010)<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0315/companies-india-madurai-blindness-mcdonalds-and-dr-v.html|title=McDonald's and Dr V.|last=Karmali|first=Naazneen|work=Forbes|access-date=2018-09-30|language=en}}</ref>
* A Hospital Network with a Vision (New York Times, 2013)<ref name=":4" />
* McSurgery: A Man Who Saved 2.4 Million Eyes (Wall Street Journal)<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115474199023727728 | title=McSurgery: A Man Who Saved 2.4 Million Eyes | date=5 August 2006 | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | first=Stephen | last=Miller | access-date=1 October 2018 }}</ref>

==Degrees earned==
* Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from American College in [[Madurai]] in 1938<ref name=":1" />
* Doctor of Medicine from Stanley Medical College in [[Madras]] in 1944<ref name=":1" />
* Doctor of ophthalmology at the Government Ophthalmic Hospital in [[Madras]] in 1951<ref name=":1" />
* Honorary Doctorate from University of Illinois, 1985<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1985-07-01|title=News and Comment|url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/article-abstract/635581|journal=Archives of Ophthalmology|language=en|volume=103|issue=7|pages=886|doi=10.1001/archopht.1985.01050070012002|issn=0003-9950}}</ref>
* Honorary Fellowship awarded by The Royal College of Ophthalmology, London, 1994<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/12/stories/2004071203680600.htm|website=[[The Hindu]]|title=Other States / Pondicherry News : Taking eye care to the doorsteps of the poor|date=2004-07-12|access-date=2018-09-30}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
* [[Padma Shri]] in 1973<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/g-venkataswamy-passes-away/article3101884.ece|title=G. swamy passes away|date=2006-07-08|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-09-30|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>
* Lifetime Service Award from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, 1982{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}
* Helen Keller International Award, 1987<ref name=":5" />
* Harold Wit Lectureship, Harvard Divinity School, 1991<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://blogpyramid.com/a-short-biography-muttu-swamy/|title=A Short Biography - Muttu swamy - Blog Pyramid|date=2013-08-06|work=Blog Pyramid|access-date=2018-09-30|language=en-US}}</ref>
* Pisart-Lighthouse for the Blind Award, 1992<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal|title=RAGS award for excellence in surgery|journal=The Asia Pacific Heart Journal|volume=6|issue=3|pages=221|doi=10.1016/s1328-0163(97)90053-1|issn=1328-0163|year=1997}}</ref>
* International Blindness Prevention Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology, 1993<ref name=":5" />
* Susruta Award, Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, 1997<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
* Dr B. C. Roy Award – 2001<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-you-should-respect-indian-doctor-doctors-day-originally-sebin|title=Why you should respect the Indian Doctor, this Doctor's Day ! {{!}} DailyRounds|website=www.dailyrounds.org|language=en|access-date=2018-09-30}}</ref>
* ASCRS Ophthalmology Hall of Fame, 2004 {{citation needed|date=October 2018}}
* On 1 October 2018, search engine [[Google]] commemorated Dr Venkataswamy with a [[Google Doodle|Doodle]] on his birth centenary.<ref name="Venkataswamy on Google Doodle">{{cite web | title=Google Doodle honours Aravind Eye Hospital founder Dr. Venkataswamy | website=The Hindu| date=2018-10-01 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/google-doodle-honours-aravind-eye-hospitals-founder-dr-venkataswamy/article25093314.ece| access-date=2018-10-01}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Medicine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venkataswamy, Govindappa}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in medicine]]
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Indian ophthalmologists]]
[[Category:Indian medical academics]]
[[Category:Indian surgeons]]
[[Category:Dr. B. C. Roy Award winners]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:20th-century surgeons]]

Govindappa Venkataswamy - Revision history

>GreenC bot at 17:31, 20 April 2021