If there is one family hospital common to all of us in Tamil Nadu, it would be Aravind Eye Hospital. The deep-rootedness of Arvind Eye Hospital can be attributed to its working ethic of embracing everyone and shunning no one. Arvind Group has been keeping many organizations of Tamil Nadu continuously operational without any letup. In other words, it integrated all the systems into a common scheme. It is not odd to see placards reading ‘Murattukalai Rajini Fan Club and Arvind Eye Hospital Jointly Organize Free Eye Camp’ being put up.
Arvind brought all the religions together under its umbrella without any difference. On the one hand, the medical camp in collaboration with the Pentecostal church; On the other side, a medical camp in association with the temple management committee and another medical camp along with Islamic service organizations… It is an intense, uncompromising looking forward that no sector of people and humanity is rejected or left out.
Whenever one thinks of Arvind Hospital, the image that appears in one’s mind is the kindness with which all employees of the hospital deal with the villagers and their compassionate attitude. It is a fast-paced hospital, like a government hospital. What amazes us is the experience-based, sedate approach. At present, Aravind Hospital only has the administrative structure to bring medical services to the doorstep of every village in Tamil Nadu.
The dedication of this hospital has reached out to all the lay people, so much so that whenever we think of the eye, we automatically think of Arvind. In this way, Aravind Hospital is a contemporary legend in service. So much so that at least someone in our family or some blood relation has done a check-up at Aravind Hospital at least once. Arvind Hospital has touched us all!
Caste mentality is very strong in cities like Erode and Coimbatore. Nammalwar often said, “In the uneducated, caste feeling is open and obvious. Caste feeling among the educated is more of an undercurrent and subtle.” In the same Erode and Coimbatore, we can see a Dalit farm worker and the owner of the same farm sitting in the same hospital tent, waiting for treatment. Free eye treatment camps will provide medical services to them on a token basis. Overcoming caste inequalities through making the services widespread is almost a social movement.
How many old men have we seen in our lives sitting with a green cotton cloth patch covering one eye on their innocent faces? It was the gift of Arvind Hospital that lit up all these eyes. In its scheme of things, “cost” is not the initial step, but the major aim is “equal treatment”. Aravind Hospital is a Gandhian dream come true, where elderly and stunted people are visited in their come to their village itself for eye examination, and if found necessary, they are taken to the hospital in the hospital’s vehicle, eye surgery is performed there, and the patients are made to stay for a couple of days, fed, give them sight, and take them back to their huts!
Dr. G.Venkatasamy, the founder of Aravind Hospital, was a follower of the Pondicherry ‘Mother’. A huge prayer dome was built at Aurobindo Annai Ashram in Pondicherry, with soil brought from all over the world. In a sense, the Aravind Group has deified itself as a lump of clay handed down by Mother. A prayer room with a small flower and a lit lamp is located in front of all their hospitals. Water for its root is the tears shed by people who lived in blind darkness and were awakened through Aravind Hospital.
While delivering his speech on Vision 2020 for the City of Chennai, noted Management Guru CK Prahlad said, ”When you dream of a Vision for Chennai, don’t try to create another Hong Kong or Shanghai. The Vision has to be something unique for Chennai. Most importantly, it should be beyond the present resources and capabilities. Only then is innovation possible”
25 years before this speech, in 1978, a retired Eye surgeon, Dr.Venkitasamy, had a similar vision. He had just retired from his job and was left with his savings in the form of a provident fund and a pension. He dreamt that he should fight to eradicate blindness in people. It was an audacious dream given the financial resources he had at the end of his working life.
Undaunted, he had started a hospital to treat people, especially the poor, to resolve their eye-related problems with his meagre post-retirement funds. Since financial resources were scarce, the first innovation started – charging well-off patients to treat poor free and Aravind Eye Hospital was born. But it had its limitations. Even rich patients in a small city like Madurai could not pay very high fees in those days.
As one of the founding members of Aravind Eye Care System, Thulasiraj Ravilla became the Administrator of Aravind Eye Hospital in 1981. He is currently the Executive Director of Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology (LAICO) as well as the Director – Operations for Aravind Eye Care System. He is the Founder President of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight-India and the Board Member of Seva Foundation, and several National as well as International Advisory Committees on Eye Care. He is the President of Aurolab Trust and a past Trustee & Treasurer for DHAN Foundation. He is a visiting scholar at University of Michigan, Ann Arbour, USA.