Govindappa Venkataswamy

In this Indian name, the name Govindappa is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Venkataswamy.

Govindappa Venkataswamy
Born
Govindappa Venkataswamy

(1918-10-01)1 October 1918
Ayan Vadamalapuram, Vilathikulam, Thoothukudi District,
Madras Presidency, British India
(now in Tamil Nadu, India)
Died7 July 2006(2006-07-07) (aged 87)
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
Other namesDr V
Alma materStanley Medical College
OccupationOphthalmologist

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.[1] Over 50% of the organisation's patients pay either nothing or highly subsidised rates.[2] Its scale and self-sustainability prompted a 1993 Harvard Business Case Study on the Aravind model.[3]

Venkataswamy was permanently crippled by rheumatoid arthritis at age 30. He trained as an ophthalmologist, and personally performed over 100,000 eye surgeries.[4] 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.[5]

In 1992, Venkataswamy and partners of Aravind founded Aurolab,[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] LAICO is a training and consulting institute that has helped replicate the Aravind model in 347 hospitals across India and 30 other developing countries.[9]

  1. ^ Mehta, Pavithra; Shenoy, Suchitra (2012). Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion. India: Harper Collins India. pp. 289, 290. ISBN 978-9350292136.
  2. ^ Samaranayake, Sadna (16 November 2011). "Where Free, Profitable, Impact and Scale Intersect: Insights From the Story of Aravind". NextBillion. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  3. ^ Rangan, V. Kasturi (1 April 1993). "Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight, The". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "Govindappa Venkataswamy, MD | ASCRS". ascrs.org. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Aurolab". www.aurolab.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  7. ^ Madhavan, N. "Aurolab: Eyeing Success". Business Today.
  8. ^ "Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology". www.laico.org. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  9. ^ Basu, Soma (29 September 2018). "An engagement that multiplies performance". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 29 September 2018.