Abstract
This is the story of an ophthalmology surgeon, who, after having obtained a specialisation in obstetrics, was struck down by rheumatoid arthritis in his thirties. After having to remain in bed for more than a year, he decided after his illness, which had caused deformities in his hands and fingers, to give up his speciality and start training in another medical specialisation, ophthalmology surgery. To be successful in this new specialisation, he had to adapt some of the instruments because of his hand and finger deformities. In his career as a surgeon, he had been in charge of the more demanding management functions in State hospitals, as well as performing surgery. When he retired at 58 (the mandatory retirement age in India, due to its very large population), he became aware of the need for ophthalmology surgeons to attend to the large number of people requiring eyecare in India, where so many are affected by blindness due to cataracts. He decided then to create an ophthalmology clinic. To achieve his goal, he invited his sister and her husband, both ophthalmology surgeons, to run a small clinical hospital with 11 beds. Later, he installed another with 30 beds, for people without the means to pay for the treatment they need. The clinical activities had great success, and with time, and after having borrowed some money by mortgaging personal assets and part of the property value of the hospitals in operation, he enlarged the clinical installations. Presently the Aravind system has 5 ophthalmology hospitals (the last of which entered operation on 21 February 2003, in Pondichery). Each of them contains a sector intended to serve free patients, those who have no means of payment, and another sector for paying patients. The medical care they receive is of the same quality, differing only in boarding and meals. Together the 5 hospitals have more than 3,000 places available, annually consulting more than 1.4 million people and performing more than 200,000 cataract surgeries. Altogether, 1,384 people work in the Aravind system, of which 197 are ophthalmology practitioners. The hospitals cover all regions in need in the state of Tamil-Nadu, southern India. India''s population is mostly rural (about 72%), with the majority having no easy access to hospital services. This situation led to the organisation of eye camps in the villages and to give those in need of ocular surgery, transportation to the hospital.
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Abstract
This is the story of an ophthalmology surgeon, who, after having obtained a specialisation in obstetrics, was struck down by rheumatoid arthritis in his thirties. After having to remain in bed for more than a year, he decided after his illness, which had caused deformities in his hands and fingers, to give up his speciality and start training in another medical specialisation, ophthalmology surgery. To be successful in this new specialisation, he had to adapt some of the instruments because of his hand and finger deformities. In his career as a surgeon, he had been in charge of the more demanding management functions in State hospitals, as well as performing surgery. When he retired at 58 (the mandatory retirement age in India, due to its very large population), he became aware of the need for ophthalmology surgeons to attend to the large number of people requiring eyecare in India, where so many are affected by blindness due to cataracts. He decided then to create an ophthalmology clinic. To achieve his goal, he invited his sister and her husband, both ophthalmology surgeons, to run a small clinical hospital with 11 beds. Later, he installed another with 30 beds, for people without the means to pay for the treatment they need. The clinical activities had great success, and with time, and after having borrowed some money by mortgaging personal assets and part of the property value of the hospitals in operation, he enlarged the clinical installations. Presently the Aravind system has 5 ophthalmology hospitals (the last of which entered operation on 21 February 2003, in Pondichery). Each of them contains a sector intended to serve free patients, those who have no means of payment, and another sector for paying patients. The medical care they receive is of the same quality, differing only in boarding and meals. Together the 5 hospitals have more than 3,000 places available, annually consulting more than 1.4 million people and performing more than 200,000 cataract surgeries. Altogether, 1,384 people work in the Aravind system, of which 197 are ophthalmology practitioners. The hospitals cover all regions in need in the state of Tamil-Nadu, southern India. India''s population is mostly rural (about 72%), with the majority having no easy access to hospital services. This situation led to the organisation of eye camps in the villages and to give those in need of ocular surgery, transportation to the hospital.
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