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Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion
The Aravind Eye Care System reinvented the rules of business to restore sight to the blind. Based in India, it is the world's largest provider of eye care and delivers surgical outcomes that equal or surpass those of developed countries - at less than 1 percent of the cost. In thirty-five years it has treated over 32 million patients, the vast majority for free. Those who can pay choose what they pay, and there is no paperwork. Refusing to rely on donations, Aravind is self-sustaining and highly prof- itable. Its baffling model is the subject of a popular Harvard Business School case study and has won admiration from Peter Drucker, Bill Clinton, and Muhammud Yunus. Infinite Vision is the first book to probe Aravind's history and the distinctive philosophies, practices, and values that unleashed its phenomenal success.The authors share Aravind's improbable evolution from an eleven-bed eye clinic founded by Dr. G. Venkataswamy, a retired surgeon with crippled fingers, no money, and a magnificent dream. Drawing inspiration from his spirituality and, of all things, the low-cost, high-volume, standardized approach of fast-food franchises, Dr. V. and his team (which includes thirty-five ophthalmologists from his family) created an or- ganization that has treated everyone from penniless farmers to the president of India.How does Aravind flourish while flouting conventional logic at every turn? What can enterprises worldwide learn from it? Infinite Vision reveals the power of a model that integrates innovation with empathy, service with business principles, and inner change with outer transformation. It shows how choices that seem nai?ve or unworkable can, when executed with wisdom and integrity, yield powerful results - results that light the eyes of millions.
484 pages, Paperback
First published November 7, 2011
73 people are currently reading
765 people want to read
About the author
Pavithra K. Mehta
5 books7 followersPavithra K. Mehta is a writer-filmmaker, in a family of 21 (and still counting) eye surgeons. This might explain her fondness for stories that help people see. Her award-winning documentary Infinite Vision followed the life and work of Dr. V, who is her granduncle. He once created a nine-item To-Do List for her that she has yet to complete. (Item #4 reads: Quality Care For All) Pavithra is drawn to the space where service and story-telling meet. She started Aravind's story archive in 2002, while freelancing on film and writing projects for nonprofits in India. Later she headed the volunteer program at Benetech, an innovative nonprofit in Silicon Valley, which runs the world's largest digital library of accessible books for people who are blind. She is currently on the board of the Aravind Eye Foundation and Service Space, an organization rooted in inner change that designs and runs experiments in generosity. She co-leads its inspiring news portal, DailyGood, as well as its pay-it-forward restaurant, Karma Kitchen, and is working on her next book. Pavithra studied English literature and broadcast journalism. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and travels back to Madurai each year. Rumi, hillsides and other noble friends help her write.
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April 6, 2017
Aravind: A Social Enterprise with Scale and Impact to Match Grameen Bank
“At first glance, it seemed a venture far too quixotic to be effective. But when intuitive goodness is pitted against unthinkable odds, it stirs the imagination and awakens possibility.”
This is the spirit in which Pavithra Mehta approaches her history of the world-famous vision care center her great-uncle founded in South India 35 years ago. It is a truly astonishing story — one with profound implications for development throughout the Global South.
“Today, the Aravind Eye Care System is the largest and most productive blindness-preention organization on the planet. During the last 35 years, its network of five eye hospitals in South India have treated more than 32 million patients and performed more than 4 million surgeries, the majority either ultrasubsidized or free.” Equally important, Aravind also serves as a global resource center for opthalmology, training one out of every seven Indian eye doctors, consulting on management and technical issues with eye hospitals in 69 countries, and operating a state-of-the-art research center.
In 1958, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy reached the mandatory retirement age of 58 in his government post and retired to Madurai, a celebrated city of one million people in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Inspired by his guru and the deeply felt spiritual values he had long held, he enlisted his brothers and sisters (virtually all of them opthalmologists like him) to help him found an 11-bed eye hospital. Dr. V (as he was widely known) set the fledgling nonprofit hospital on course to provide cataract surgery to all who needed it, regardless of their ability to pay.
He and his family implemented a staggered fee schedule, charging market rates to those with the ability to pay and a heavily subsidized rate to those with limited means, but worked free of charge to those who could pay nothing — allowing every patient to choose his or her own level of payment. (A future President of India once received free care.) Miraculously, this approach allowed Aravind to earn a profit from its earliest days until the present. Surplus funds permitted Dr. V. to build first one new eye hospital, then three more, and later to fund a manufacturing plant for intraocular lenses and a world-class opthalmological research center.
The quality of Aravind’s eye care services and of the lenses produced in its factory match or exceed the standards of the West. In fact, a recent study compared Aravind’s surgical outcomes to those of the members of the Royal College of Opthalmologists of the UK — and “found Aravind’s complication rates to be less than those of its British counterparts.” Similarly, when one senior Aravind surgeon lectured on corneal ulcers at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, “the faculty adviser told his residents, ‘The amazing stuff you just saw — don’t try it here. We don’t have that kind of expertise.’”
Today, Aravind employs 3,200 persons. Dr. V passed away in 2006 at the age of 88, but his younger brothers and sisters remain involved in Aravind — although they have passed the reins of management to first one and then a third generation of this truly remarkable family. (Aravind currently counts 21 opthalmologists in Dr. V’s family among its staff.)
Aravind’s business model is unique in many ways. It’s a nonprofit that consistently turns a profit. It subjects the most modest and obscure processes at work in the hospital to exacting statistical analysis — everything from the manner in which custodians clean the floors to the number of sutures its surgeons employ — and as a result has attained a level of efficiency that would bring smiles to the faces of the most demanding Japanese plant manager. It shares its management secrets (and they are many) with all comers with an openness and a willingness to train competitors that is simply extraordinary. It pioneered the use of eye care “camps” — one-day events staged in towns and villages throughout the state of Tamil Nadu to generate large numbers of surgical patients, busing them into the nearest hospital in the Aravind system.
Dr. V’s daily journal, assiduously updated throughout his days at Aravind, reflects the breadth and depth of the questions he never stopped asking. For example, “How was Buddha able to organize in those days a religion that millions follow[?] . . . How did the disciples of Christ spread their mission around the world[?]” Yet Dr. V also frequently spoke of his dream to bring efficiency, consistency, and low cost to eye surgery the way McDonald’s did to hamburgers. Aravind remains today a pure expression of the vision and the spirit of unending inquiry that he brought to the venture from the outset.
(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)
“At first glance, it seemed a venture far too quixotic to be effective. But when intuitive goodness is pitted against unthinkable odds, it stirs the imagination and awakens possibility.”
This is the spirit in which Pavithra Mehta approaches her history of the world-famous vision care center her great-uncle founded in South India 35 years ago. It is a truly astonishing story — one with profound implications for development throughout the Global South.
“Today, the Aravind Eye Care System is the largest and most productive blindness-preention organization on the planet. During the last 35 years, its network of five eye hospitals in South India have treated more than 32 million patients and performed more than 4 million surgeries, the majority either ultrasubsidized or free.” Equally important, Aravind also serves as a global resource center for opthalmology, training one out of every seven Indian eye doctors, consulting on management and technical issues with eye hospitals in 69 countries, and operating a state-of-the-art research center.
In 1958, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy reached the mandatory retirement age of 58 in his government post and retired to Madurai, a celebrated city of one million people in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Inspired by his guru and the deeply felt spiritual values he had long held, he enlisted his brothers and sisters (virtually all of them opthalmologists like him) to help him found an 11-bed eye hospital. Dr. V (as he was widely known) set the fledgling nonprofit hospital on course to provide cataract surgery to all who needed it, regardless of their ability to pay.
He and his family implemented a staggered fee schedule, charging market rates to those with the ability to pay and a heavily subsidized rate to those with limited means, but worked free of charge to those who could pay nothing — allowing every patient to choose his or her own level of payment. (A future President of India once received free care.) Miraculously, this approach allowed Aravind to earn a profit from its earliest days until the present. Surplus funds permitted Dr. V. to build first one new eye hospital, then three more, and later to fund a manufacturing plant for intraocular lenses and a world-class opthalmological research center.
The quality of Aravind’s eye care services and of the lenses produced in its factory match or exceed the standards of the West. In fact, a recent study compared Aravind’s surgical outcomes to those of the members of the Royal College of Opthalmologists of the UK — and “found Aravind’s complication rates to be less than those of its British counterparts.” Similarly, when one senior Aravind surgeon lectured on corneal ulcers at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, “the faculty adviser told his residents, ‘The amazing stuff you just saw — don’t try it here. We don’t have that kind of expertise.’”
Today, Aravind employs 3,200 persons. Dr. V passed away in 2006 at the age of 88, but his younger brothers and sisters remain involved in Aravind — although they have passed the reins of management to first one and then a third generation of this truly remarkable family. (Aravind currently counts 21 opthalmologists in Dr. V’s family among its staff.)
Aravind’s business model is unique in many ways. It’s a nonprofit that consistently turns a profit. It subjects the most modest and obscure processes at work in the hospital to exacting statistical analysis — everything from the manner in which custodians clean the floors to the number of sutures its surgeons employ — and as a result has attained a level of efficiency that would bring smiles to the faces of the most demanding Japanese plant manager. It shares its management secrets (and they are many) with all comers with an openness and a willingness to train competitors that is simply extraordinary. It pioneered the use of eye care “camps” — one-day events staged in towns and villages throughout the state of Tamil Nadu to generate large numbers of surgical patients, busing them into the nearest hospital in the Aravind system.
Dr. V’s daily journal, assiduously updated throughout his days at Aravind, reflects the breadth and depth of the questions he never stopped asking. For example, “How was Buddha able to organize in those days a religion that millions follow[?] . . . How did the disciples of Christ spread their mission around the world[?]” Yet Dr. V also frequently spoke of his dream to bring efficiency, consistency, and low cost to eye surgery the way McDonald’s did to hamburgers. Aravind remains today a pure expression of the vision and the spirit of unending inquiry that he brought to the venture from the outset.
(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)
March 10, 2012
In 2009, when I took my aged mother to the Aravind Eye care hospital in Coimbatore for a cataract surgey, I was struck by the kindness, courtesy and professionalism of the staff, right from the front desk clerk to the nurses and doctors. What is more, it didn't cost an arm and a leg to do the initial consultation, the surgery and the post-operative care. As one who is born and brought up in India, I tend to take indifference and lack of courtesy as part of life in our hospitals. I wondered then as to how come this hospital is so different from others I have encountered in India before.
When my mother's surgey was complete, I remember seeing a big photograph of Dr.V in the main hall and also pictures of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Little did I know the true story behind the institution and the vision of its founder. Now that I know the full story from this brilliant book by Pavitra Mehta and Suchitra Shenoy, it makes me proud that we in India, that too in my home state Tamilnadu, could create something so original, innovative and of such high quality. It makes me inspired to strive for better all the time and also specially, for the right, humane reasons.
The authors show that Aravind is an unconventional model, built on the power of integrating innovation with empathy, sound business principles with service and external change through inner change. Though all this sounds esoteric, the extensive data related to Aravind's performance over the past 30 years shows that it has been achieved in reality and what more, it is a model that can also be duplicated independent of the presence of the eminent personalities of the founding team of Aravind. Dr.V, the founding father of Aravind, believed in the following: "to be of service to others is to serve ourselves. Our limitations do not define us. Embedded in the human spirit is a wisdom and strength that can rise to meet our greatest challenges'. This was enough to make him start at age 58 a 11-bed eye clinic in Madurai with no money, no biz plan or safety net and turn it into the largest eye care provider in the world in three decades. It is difficult to enumerate here all the revolutionary things Aravind has pioneered over the years. That is why one must read this book.
The most important take-away from this book for me is the business model of Aravind. The revolutionary departure points in this model are as follows:
Service to the poor as the primary goal
Maximizing service instead of profit
Patients choosing either to pay or not for the service.
The enterprise built on the principle of 'Do the work first and the money will eventually follow'.
Applying the McDonald's and Burger King's service model to attain consistency, reliability, low costs and clear standards
Training their competition in all the key areas for success in the same business!
It is a real challenge to all the well-intentioned people of this world to try and see if this can be the new business model, especially in areas of fundamental needs of humanity. I know that another enterprise - Narayana Hrdalaya - in Bangalore has applied many of these principles successfully in the realm of heart surgery. Perhaps, this is the way forward for developing nations in the area of healthcare.
Finally, it is also important to understand the spiritual inspiration from Sri Aurobindo in Dr.V's efforts and how he creatively applied them in Aravind. 'Man is a transitional and not a final being' is central to Aurobindo's Integral Yoga. Since Man is a work in progress, Aurobindo emphasised the ecumenical approach of Aspiration, Rejection and Surrender as a means to achieve transformation. Dr.V creatively applied it as follows: He saw Aspiration as a commitment and determination to move in the direction of one's highest purpose - that is curing needless blindness all over the world. He saw Rejection as not allowing mental prejudices to cloud one's thinking and not limiting oneself to small things but aspiring for higher. He saw Surrender as overcoming the pull of the conscious and rational mind and making crucial decisions through the inexpressicable logic of his deeper awareness of the unconscious.
This book is highly inspiring and is important in the way it integrates the ideas of innovation, creativity, courage and spirituality.
When my mother's surgey was complete, I remember seeing a big photograph of Dr.V in the main hall and also pictures of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Little did I know the true story behind the institution and the vision of its founder. Now that I know the full story from this brilliant book by Pavitra Mehta and Suchitra Shenoy, it makes me proud that we in India, that too in my home state Tamilnadu, could create something so original, innovative and of such high quality. It makes me inspired to strive for better all the time and also specially, for the right, humane reasons.
The authors show that Aravind is an unconventional model, built on the power of integrating innovation with empathy, sound business principles with service and external change through inner change. Though all this sounds esoteric, the extensive data related to Aravind's performance over the past 30 years shows that it has been achieved in reality and what more, it is a model that can also be duplicated independent of the presence of the eminent personalities of the founding team of Aravind. Dr.V, the founding father of Aravind, believed in the following: "to be of service to others is to serve ourselves. Our limitations do not define us. Embedded in the human spirit is a wisdom and strength that can rise to meet our greatest challenges'. This was enough to make him start at age 58 a 11-bed eye clinic in Madurai with no money, no biz plan or safety net and turn it into the largest eye care provider in the world in three decades. It is difficult to enumerate here all the revolutionary things Aravind has pioneered over the years. That is why one must read this book.
The most important take-away from this book for me is the business model of Aravind. The revolutionary departure points in this model are as follows:
Service to the poor as the primary goal
Maximizing service instead of profit
Patients choosing either to pay or not for the service.
The enterprise built on the principle of 'Do the work first and the money will eventually follow'.
Applying the McDonald's and Burger King's service model to attain consistency, reliability, low costs and clear standards
Training their competition in all the key areas for success in the same business!
It is a real challenge to all the well-intentioned people of this world to try and see if this can be the new business model, especially in areas of fundamental needs of humanity. I know that another enterprise - Narayana Hrdalaya - in Bangalore has applied many of these principles successfully in the realm of heart surgery. Perhaps, this is the way forward for developing nations in the area of healthcare.
Finally, it is also important to understand the spiritual inspiration from Sri Aurobindo in Dr.V's efforts and how he creatively applied them in Aravind. 'Man is a transitional and not a final being' is central to Aurobindo's Integral Yoga. Since Man is a work in progress, Aurobindo emphasised the ecumenical approach of Aspiration, Rejection and Surrender as a means to achieve transformation. Dr.V creatively applied it as follows: He saw Aspiration as a commitment and determination to move in the direction of one's highest purpose - that is curing needless blindness all over the world. He saw Rejection as not allowing mental prejudices to cloud one's thinking and not limiting oneself to small things but aspiring for higher. He saw Surrender as overcoming the pull of the conscious and rational mind and making crucial decisions through the inexpressicable logic of his deeper awareness of the unconscious.
This book is highly inspiring and is important in the way it integrates the ideas of innovation, creativity, courage and spirituality.
February 7, 2018
This is a 20 page story that has been stretched across 280 pages. The initial few chapters were interesting - Aravind Eye Hospital is such a unique and laudable business model and Dr. V, its founder, is a really inspiring personality - but less than halfway through the book, it gets really boring and repetitive ("Aravind is unique because its mission and vision is so different and compassionate" X 10).
Would recommend Chapter 1 - 6 only.
Would recommend Chapter 1 - 6 only.
Read
February 8, 2024read for gse, very cool story!!!
January 6, 2021
The Aravind story is one that shows extraordinary systems-level thinking, leadership, compassion and spirituality. In this candid book filled with journal entries by the man who started Aravind himself, we get a pretty good idea of the internal workings of this mega hospital. In a hurry to cure the world of needless blindness, they even trained their competition. For someone with such lofty visions, Dr. V seems utterly practical and in touch with reality. This is what makes the book such a compelling read from start to finish. You are living through the banalities that come with a 100 operations before the doctors have had lunch, while at the same time having a bird's eye view of the innovations and breakthroughs coming out of Aravind.
“From the very beginning, our systems have been designed so that there is no incentive for us to exploit a patient financially,” Thulsi says. “For instance, we don’t accept commission for patients that we refer outside for MRI or CAT scans.”
“ask any of them, what our annual turnover is,” challenges Thulsi. “They will venture a guess but will probably be off by a factor of three or four.”
He is right.
“I don’t really know how much we made last year,” confesses Dr. Natchiar (Dr. V's sister), “but all of us know how many patients we reached, and that’s what our focus really is.”
All the members of the leadership team still go out to outreach camps and perform operations for thousands of people in makeshift operation halls in village schools, theatres and the like. Whenever they have had to trade chasing the wealthier patients to serving more of those in need, they have made the harder choice. There was a time when Aravind was struggling to make ends meet. Even at that time, when one patient asks for the fee amount, Dr. V laughed and said, “Brother, for your fee you must send me 100 patients from the villages to be treated for free".
Now, Aravind is hugely profitable and can afford to construct a new hospital every year if they wished. This is what the new leadership team (after Dr. V's passing) has to say about that:
“Our pace of growth is pretty sedate when compared to our corporate counterparts,” says Dr. Aravind. “That’s the reality of our model right now. We’re only moving at the rate at which we can still retain our value system.”
“As a rule, 80 percent of the employees that staff our new centers are transferred from existing positions in our older hospitals,” says Dr. Aravind. “We don’t just recruit a fresh bunch of people.” This insistence on an inculcation period and in-house experience is a clear indicator of where the organization places the most emphasis. “Our model hinges on a value-driven approach,” says Ravi (current Chief of Aravind), “and it takes time to create a workforce that is tuned to that.”
I've always thought the RATE of growth of a company is an important parameter in their long term success. The fact that an impactful and compassionate business has a firm grip on this spanning multigenerational leadership teams is really impressive. There are many more systemic lessons to be learnt from this company. If all this seems super-human, here is Dr. V writing as humanly as possible in his journal about the struggle to control his negative tendencies. Doesn't this seem like us all?
"I feel something is wrong with me. I develop fixed ideas and strong prejudices, he writes. So much tension, anger and reaction sometimes."
This man who thinks something is wrong with him, probably touched 40 percent of eye care in the developing world today.
“From the very beginning, our systems have been designed so that there is no incentive for us to exploit a patient financially,” Thulsi says. “For instance, we don’t accept commission for patients that we refer outside for MRI or CAT scans.”
“ask any of them, what our annual turnover is,” challenges Thulsi. “They will venture a guess but will probably be off by a factor of three or four.”
He is right.
“I don’t really know how much we made last year,” confesses Dr. Natchiar (Dr. V's sister), “but all of us know how many patients we reached, and that’s what our focus really is.”
All the members of the leadership team still go out to outreach camps and perform operations for thousands of people in makeshift operation halls in village schools, theatres and the like. Whenever they have had to trade chasing the wealthier patients to serving more of those in need, they have made the harder choice. There was a time when Aravind was struggling to make ends meet. Even at that time, when one patient asks for the fee amount, Dr. V laughed and said, “Brother, for your fee you must send me 100 patients from the villages to be treated for free".
Now, Aravind is hugely profitable and can afford to construct a new hospital every year if they wished. This is what the new leadership team (after Dr. V's passing) has to say about that:
“Our pace of growth is pretty sedate when compared to our corporate counterparts,” says Dr. Aravind. “That’s the reality of our model right now. We’re only moving at the rate at which we can still retain our value system.”
“As a rule, 80 percent of the employees that staff our new centers are transferred from existing positions in our older hospitals,” says Dr. Aravind. “We don’t just recruit a fresh bunch of people.” This insistence on an inculcation period and in-house experience is a clear indicator of where the organization places the most emphasis. “Our model hinges on a value-driven approach,” says Ravi (current Chief of Aravind), “and it takes time to create a workforce that is tuned to that.”
I've always thought the RATE of growth of a company is an important parameter in their long term success. The fact that an impactful and compassionate business has a firm grip on this spanning multigenerational leadership teams is really impressive. There are many more systemic lessons to be learnt from this company. If all this seems super-human, here is Dr. V writing as humanly as possible in his journal about the struggle to control his negative tendencies. Doesn't this seem like us all?
"I feel something is wrong with me. I develop fixed ideas and strong prejudices, he writes. So much tension, anger and reaction sometimes."
This man who thinks something is wrong with him, probably touched 40 percent of eye care in the developing world today.
December 30, 2017
One of the best books that I have read. Incredibly inspiring account of a towering personality called Dr. V who wanted to provide healthCARE especially to the most underprivileged and that to while being self sustaining. And well, needless to say what an amazing institution he created. A must read for everyone and more so for people involved with Healthcare and business.
August 30, 2020
Amazing story about the Aravind eye care system. I don’t want my low rating to reflect my thoughts on the story the development and success of this eye care system was extraordinary. My rating is strictly for the book and writing itself, which dragged on and could have been a lot shorter and still gotten the main points across and brought the inspiring story to life.
October 23, 2019
So Dr. V is trying to create an eye hospital with McDonalds as his role model. Strange right?
What’s even more strange is that this franchise business in eye hospitals has been visualised in 1976 when Dr. V is 58 years old! Also, it’s catering the poor and yet profitable.
Arvind is a mandatory reading at Harvard business school.
Today while we have 600,000 people becoming entrepreneurs every month and 98% of them failing - I read this. And yet again it’s proven, your grit will be tested.
Dr. V is a very intuitive and soulful personality. Has mandatory Yoga Practice, Meditation sessions and journal entries everyday. ‘He brings a lot of energy and purpose to everyone he comes in contact with’
He created an organisation that does not compromise on quality. Everything here is scaled, there is transparency and quality assessment every so often and a force of people is created! Arvind’s own financial health and independence are by products of careful attention to pricing structures, free and paying patient volumes, effective resource utilisation, standardisation and ab extremely cost conscious leadership. For examples as simple as no fans are on when there are no patients or that
When products like IOL intar ocular lenses are expensive; an in-house production is started.
The model is based on the ratio of paying patients if either ends looses faith in Arvind’s services, the entire ecosystem is thrown off balance. Losing paying patients increases unit cost affects Arvind’s reputation and reduces training capacity.
Notes:
‘You must chase your purpose. Mak that the core of your energy, build your systems to be sustainable from all dimensions’
‘Where large need exists, you can build a roadmap aimed at scale. Boutique interventions even if they bring some kind of personal satisfaction won’t make the needed impact.’
‘Self reliance is more about the mindset than it is about money. It is a particular way of viewing your resources and putting them to best use possible. ‘
‘You have clinical competence with a broader vision, money will not be a problem. Maybe in the initial stages there will be a bit of a struggle but not for the bigger vision’
‘The true method of being in stream of this power-money is the feeling that it is not something you possess, but it is the force you can handle and direct’
‘Say the average practitioner uses his surgical microscope 20 times a month, at Arvind we use it 20 to 30 times higher so our average cost per case is drastically lower than his. The considerable downtime that most practitioners have means their average cost per case is much higher than ours’
“Start with the microcosm of what you are dreaming of. Seeing it in motion will give you the energy you and your team need. Commitment on the ground goes a long way, even if it’s a modest effort’
“Our task is to make ordinary person extraordinary “
“Believe you are good and you will be good”
What’s even more strange is that this franchise business in eye hospitals has been visualised in 1976 when Dr. V is 58 years old! Also, it’s catering the poor and yet profitable.
Arvind is a mandatory reading at Harvard business school.
Today while we have 600,000 people becoming entrepreneurs every month and 98% of them failing - I read this. And yet again it’s proven, your grit will be tested.
Dr. V is a very intuitive and soulful personality. Has mandatory Yoga Practice, Meditation sessions and journal entries everyday. ‘He brings a lot of energy and purpose to everyone he comes in contact with’
He created an organisation that does not compromise on quality. Everything here is scaled, there is transparency and quality assessment every so often and a force of people is created! Arvind’s own financial health and independence are by products of careful attention to pricing structures, free and paying patient volumes, effective resource utilisation, standardisation and ab extremely cost conscious leadership. For examples as simple as no fans are on when there are no patients or that
When products like IOL intar ocular lenses are expensive; an in-house production is started.
The model is based on the ratio of paying patients if either ends looses faith in Arvind’s services, the entire ecosystem is thrown off balance. Losing paying patients increases unit cost affects Arvind’s reputation and reduces training capacity.
Notes:
‘You must chase your purpose. Mak that the core of your energy, build your systems to be sustainable from all dimensions’
‘Where large need exists, you can build a roadmap aimed at scale. Boutique interventions even if they bring some kind of personal satisfaction won’t make the needed impact.’
‘Self reliance is more about the mindset than it is about money. It is a particular way of viewing your resources and putting them to best use possible. ‘
‘You have clinical competence with a broader vision, money will not be a problem. Maybe in the initial stages there will be a bit of a struggle but not for the bigger vision’
‘The true method of being in stream of this power-money is the feeling that it is not something you possess, but it is the force you can handle and direct’
‘Say the average practitioner uses his surgical microscope 20 times a month, at Arvind we use it 20 to 30 times higher so our average cost per case is drastically lower than his. The considerable downtime that most practitioners have means their average cost per case is much higher than ours’
“Start with the microcosm of what you are dreaming of. Seeing it in motion will give you the energy you and your team need. Commitment on the ground goes a long way, even if it’s a modest effort’
“Our task is to make ordinary person extraordinary “
“Believe you are good and you will be good”
January 23, 2017
El concepto que más aprecié: Cero dólares puede llegar a ser un valor de mercado perfectamente válido para una operación quirúrgica.
July 27, 2021
This has become my all time favourite book. This is the most unique book I have read which combines spirituality and business.
If this book becomes a mandatory read during school/college life it can change so many live and save millions from getting into the cycle of earning money which they don’t enjoy.
The book shows how money is a byproduct of the service you provide to the society and if you keep the well-being of the society at the centre of your life philosophy you will never sleep hungry and unsatisfied.
To have such a mindset one needs to be spiritually aware and should see every human being with a similar eye. This is what Dr V in this book did and ended up creating the biggest medical institutions of the world.
If you are looking for inspiration, motivation, business ideas, spirituality and self help. This book is for you.
If this book becomes a mandatory read during school/college life it can change so many live and save millions from getting into the cycle of earning money which they don’t enjoy.
The book shows how money is a byproduct of the service you provide to the society and if you keep the well-being of the society at the centre of your life philosophy you will never sleep hungry and unsatisfied.
To have such a mindset one needs to be spiritually aware and should see every human being with a similar eye. This is what Dr V in this book did and ended up creating the biggest medical institutions of the world.
If you are looking for inspiration, motivation, business ideas, spirituality and self help. This book is for you.
April 18, 2018
Soulful!
I never felt such a strong connection with a business book. It goes deep into the reasons behind Aravind's success and beautifully describes the spiritual journey of Dr. V that led to the outer transformative action.
"Aravind Hospital aims at bringing higher consciousness to transform mind, body and soul of people. It is not a mechanical structure repairing eyes. It has a deeper purpose."
"He believes that when selfless intentions drive an undertaking, and when people truly attempt to understand themselves and their work within the vast interconnectedness of the world, they can effect profound change."
I’m filled with gratitude for the authors, Pavi and Suchitra, who wrote this book with complete honesty. The monumental effort that must have gone into truly understanding the journey of 30+ years is clearly visible. Most books in this genre feel like a fairytale but this one is different. It talks about the struggles of staying relevant, family tensions, changes in leadership, patriarchy within the system and the almost impossible task of sustaining values over time and scale.
It is a must-read for everyone!
I never felt such a strong connection with a business book. It goes deep into the reasons behind Aravind's success and beautifully describes the spiritual journey of Dr. V that led to the outer transformative action.
"Aravind Hospital aims at bringing higher consciousness to transform mind, body and soul of people. It is not a mechanical structure repairing eyes. It has a deeper purpose."
"He believes that when selfless intentions drive an undertaking, and when people truly attempt to understand themselves and their work within the vast interconnectedness of the world, they can effect profound change."
I’m filled with gratitude for the authors, Pavi and Suchitra, who wrote this book with complete honesty. The monumental effort that must have gone into truly understanding the journey of 30+ years is clearly visible. Most books in this genre feel like a fairytale but this one is different. It talks about the struggles of staying relevant, family tensions, changes in leadership, patriarchy within the system and the almost impossible task of sustaining values over time and scale.
It is a must-read for everyone!
May 22, 2014
So the Aravind eye care system seems really interesting. However I found this book pretty frustrating. From the subtitle I was expecting a fairly linear narrative of the history of the clinic, instead the book is not very linear and never really talks about how Aravind moved form 11 beds to 5 hospitals. It also failed to provide much detail about other things I wanted to learn about, like eye care, and how their system is different on a technical level. I would have liked a step by step explanation of the typical cataract surgery. However this mostly glossed over. Instead of these details the book focuses on how great the founders of the organization are, with side discussions of their spiritual leaders. Despite all the praise heaped on Dr V. I got the impression he could be pain to work for, as could some of his siblings. This book was a disappointment.
May 2, 2014
The life of Dr V is astonishing. How does he find the time and the patience to do so much for so many people? But the book is a slow read. Gets boring at times. Read if you are interested in helping out people and in understanding the economics of an institution that changed so much. The book makes everything seem so simple and yet we don't see many hospitals out there working for the poor.
Three cheers to Dr V and his ideas and ideals.
Three cheers to Dr V and his ideas and ideals.
February 20, 2020
Seems like they had the most ideal situations. Not one problem or obstacle faced while building up a hospital. Not a very insightful read.
November 14, 2016
I had heard a lot about Aravind Eye Care Hospital (Madurai) but never knew about what their contribution to Eye care in India and the world was until I saw this book and decided to buy and read it.
The authors have done a fantastic job to not only introduce us to the now very popular Aravind model of Eye care ( Low cost , high volume and high value model) but also described in detail of how this whole model evolved over a period of more than 3 decades.
The model which its founder Dr Govidappa Venkataswamy started ( in the late 70s in Madurai) works on the main principles of Integrating innovation with empathy, business principles with service and outer transformation with inner change. At a time of his life after retiring from active Govt service Dr V ( as he was popularly known in the medical circles) decided to start of this 11 bed eye care nursing home in Madurai , the underlying spirit of service was at the core of this project. Realizing that this low cost model for the poor would not take him to far to achieve his mission of curing avoidable blindness, Dr V then used the cross subsidy model where in patients who want to pay can pay an amount their choice , patients who could pay market rates paid it and poor patients who could not afford it were treated free . This model has succeeded and survived for the last many decades and is still going strong at Aravind Eye care till this date.
The whole philosophy of this venture was to reach out to maximum no of poor people and cure avoidable blindness (cataract) and not to turn away anyone who cannot afford treatment. Dr V and his team ( many of whom were his family members ) have successfully used assembly line operation methods even in hospital management which has helped them provide affordable eye care at a fraction of the cost compared to other hospitals in India and the west. A laser like focus on cost, standardized processes, metrics and feedback have helped Aravind to cut cost of an typical cataract surgery and also hugely impacted productivity , a typical doctor at Aravind does about 2000 cataract surgeries a year while the national average is about 400.
The spotlight on Aravind and how it has managed to scale this socially committed business operation to multiple cities across Tamilnadu and build the largest eye care hospital chain is worth understanding.
Dr V who had been influenced a lot by Sri Aurobindo ( hospital named after him Aravind is another name for Aurobindo ) his constant questioning about life and its purpose and all his teaching seem to be the corner stone while this organization was being built.
To get some statistics Aravind in all its centers put together see 7500 patients daily, does about 900 eye surgeries daily ( cataract glaucoma etc etc) 5-6 out reach camps in village are done daily , 500-600 tele-medicine cases daily, 7000 Intraocular lenses produced at their lens manufacturing facility daily.
Aravind’s journey from an eye care hospital to a manufcaturer of Intraocular lenses to Ophthalmology medicines and a few Ophthalmology equipment and opening of Aravind Training institute ( trains doctors and other hospitals to help them learn and implement Aravind model in their country ) is well documented . Aravind till this day trains doctors, nurses and support staff from various countries in Africa and Asia, they learn about the Aravind model and how to replicate the same back home.
All this has bought them a lot of praise some of which are the Padma Shri for its founder Dr Govindppa Venkataswamy numerous awards and grants from leading social impact funds and organizations like Acumen, Skool, Schwab and Gates Foundation. Innumerable no of business schools have included this case study in their MBA programs including the most famous of them Harvard.
Succession planning, scalability model like in any organization is a challenge and Aravind is no different, what started of as business based on compassion today's stands at the crossroads with the new generation facing the dilemma of the road ahead. With increasing competition w and growing materialism the generation now at the helm face this challenge on how to retain the founding principles when this institute was started.
An excellent read, not only to understand the challenges faced in delivery of low cost eye care but also understand and reflect upon why businesses need to be more compassionate in their outlook.
The authors have done a fantastic job to not only introduce us to the now very popular Aravind model of Eye care ( Low cost , high volume and high value model) but also described in detail of how this whole model evolved over a period of more than 3 decades.
The model which its founder Dr Govidappa Venkataswamy started ( in the late 70s in Madurai) works on the main principles of Integrating innovation with empathy, business principles with service and outer transformation with inner change. At a time of his life after retiring from active Govt service Dr V ( as he was popularly known in the medical circles) decided to start of this 11 bed eye care nursing home in Madurai , the underlying spirit of service was at the core of this project. Realizing that this low cost model for the poor would not take him to far to achieve his mission of curing avoidable blindness, Dr V then used the cross subsidy model where in patients who want to pay can pay an amount their choice , patients who could pay market rates paid it and poor patients who could not afford it were treated free . This model has succeeded and survived for the last many decades and is still going strong at Aravind Eye care till this date.
The whole philosophy of this venture was to reach out to maximum no of poor people and cure avoidable blindness (cataract) and not to turn away anyone who cannot afford treatment. Dr V and his team ( many of whom were his family members ) have successfully used assembly line operation methods even in hospital management which has helped them provide affordable eye care at a fraction of the cost compared to other hospitals in India and the west. A laser like focus on cost, standardized processes, metrics and feedback have helped Aravind to cut cost of an typical cataract surgery and also hugely impacted productivity , a typical doctor at Aravind does about 2000 cataract surgeries a year while the national average is about 400.
The spotlight on Aravind and how it has managed to scale this socially committed business operation to multiple cities across Tamilnadu and build the largest eye care hospital chain is worth understanding.
Dr V who had been influenced a lot by Sri Aurobindo ( hospital named after him Aravind is another name for Aurobindo ) his constant questioning about life and its purpose and all his teaching seem to be the corner stone while this organization was being built.
To get some statistics Aravind in all its centers put together see 7500 patients daily, does about 900 eye surgeries daily ( cataract glaucoma etc etc) 5-6 out reach camps in village are done daily , 500-600 tele-medicine cases daily, 7000 Intraocular lenses produced at their lens manufacturing facility daily.
Aravind’s journey from an eye care hospital to a manufcaturer of Intraocular lenses to Ophthalmology medicines and a few Ophthalmology equipment and opening of Aravind Training institute ( trains doctors and other hospitals to help them learn and implement Aravind model in their country ) is well documented . Aravind till this day trains doctors, nurses and support staff from various countries in Africa and Asia, they learn about the Aravind model and how to replicate the same back home.
All this has bought them a lot of praise some of which are the Padma Shri for its founder Dr Govindppa Venkataswamy numerous awards and grants from leading social impact funds and organizations like Acumen, Skool, Schwab and Gates Foundation. Innumerable no of business schools have included this case study in their MBA programs including the most famous of them Harvard.
Succession planning, scalability model like in any organization is a challenge and Aravind is no different, what started of as business based on compassion today's stands at the crossroads with the new generation facing the dilemma of the road ahead. With increasing competition w and growing materialism the generation now at the helm face this challenge on how to retain the founding principles when this institute was started.
An excellent read, not only to understand the challenges faced in delivery of low cost eye care but also understand and reflect upon why businesses need to be more compassionate in their outlook.
March 16, 2019
Inspiring book that covers in detail about how one soul can set path and impact millions of . The book teaches every aspect of business - operations, HR, technology, etc. Refreshing take as it covers a non profit organization which has followed every aspect of business, has innovated with times, but still has been true to its core.
Learnings:
1) There is no age to start something. Dr. V started Aravind at age of 58! Also, one should inspire others to join force by showing the big picture.
2) Vision is extremely important, even though it might appear unrealistic to many.
3) Never compromise on your core. Aravind's model is high volume, affordable, high quality eye care. Driven by compassion, it aims to make eye care reach to those who otherwise ignored and not run after premium customers. During expansion, sticking to core is becomes very important.
4) For serving the bottom of the pyramid, free is not enough. You need to look at other ways why free which you consider might be an expense for them. In Aravind's case, if they made eye surgeries free for all, still people were not taking it. Reason - it was expense for them to travel to the nearest center and non affordable.
5) Finance: If you want to be self reliant, you will come up with innovative ways to optimize spends. The external funds can be used for new and innovative projects or expansions.
6) Lessons of the corporate world can be used for growing non profit business if the intention is right. Eg: franchise model (like Mc D) for medicine. Also, utilizing technology and innovating with times is e
7) HR: Having a succession plan is important. External mentors help in the transition.
8) HR: If you have to retain high quality staff, pay scales need to be comparable. Training, charting out career tracks, etc for everyone is important.
9) If the product is good, word of mouth is better than any other form. Also, sharing knowledge with others doesn't mean telling your secret to your competitors. It enhances your credibility and makes others contribute to the bigger revolution.
Learnings:
1) There is no age to start something. Dr. V started Aravind at age of 58! Also, one should inspire others to join force by showing the big picture.
2) Vision is extremely important, even though it might appear unrealistic to many.
3) Never compromise on your core. Aravind's model is high volume, affordable, high quality eye care. Driven by compassion, it aims to make eye care reach to those who otherwise ignored and not run after premium customers. During expansion, sticking to core is becomes very important.
4) For serving the bottom of the pyramid, free is not enough. You need to look at other ways why free which you consider might be an expense for them. In Aravind's case, if they made eye surgeries free for all, still people were not taking it. Reason - it was expense for them to travel to the nearest center and non affordable.
5) Finance: If you want to be self reliant, you will come up with innovative ways to optimize spends. The external funds can be used for new and innovative projects or expansions.
6) Lessons of the corporate world can be used for growing non profit business if the intention is right. Eg: franchise model (like Mc D) for medicine. Also, utilizing technology and innovating with times is e
7) HR: Having a succession plan is important. External mentors help in the transition.
8) HR: If you have to retain high quality staff, pay scales need to be comparable. Training, charting out career tracks, etc for everyone is important.
9) If the product is good, word of mouth is better than any other form. Also, sharing knowledge with others doesn't mean telling your secret to your competitors. It enhances your credibility and makes others contribute to the bigger revolution.
June 19, 2018
Fascinating story that they don’t really tell-how do they actually pay for giving away tons of free eye surgery? How do they organize their rural eye camps? How do they convince so many people to trust them to cut their eyes? How do they train up enough people? I feel like their are a lot of questions the book glosses over-how do they do so many surgeries so efficiently? Give me details!
And quit yapping about the head guy, Dr. V. Like he’s some sort of saint. As a manager he sounds downright tyrannical, and I don’t need nearly so much info about his spiritual gurus, who sound like charlatans on a good day. Everything the author said about them made me think “huh, I wonder how much money they squeezed out of these folks”.
And lastly, family businesses are the pits-but to have a family business that is an eye surgery center is just plain weird. These folks have all the problems if a family business, plus vast amounts of sexism (no woman could be chosen to lead the hospital system! I guess we’ll pick her husband instead!) the authors talk a bit about non-family members feeling like they can’t advance in the company, but not much about family members fighting about money and titles and control issues.
Or maybe I’m wrong, maybe the fact that the whole shebang is kept in the family is what keeps the doctors invested in it for lower pay?
And lastly, no one is allowed to quote Regina Herzlinger as a fucking expert on how to make healthcare commercially successful and market based. She’s a money grubbing POS and has spent much of her professional life awaiting indictment from the FBI. For them to look to her for expertise is embarrassing.
And quit yapping about the head guy, Dr. V. Like he’s some sort of saint. As a manager he sounds downright tyrannical, and I don’t need nearly so much info about his spiritual gurus, who sound like charlatans on a good day. Everything the author said about them made me think “huh, I wonder how much money they squeezed out of these folks”.
And lastly, family businesses are the pits-but to have a family business that is an eye surgery center is just plain weird. These folks have all the problems if a family business, plus vast amounts of sexism (no woman could be chosen to lead the hospital system! I guess we’ll pick her husband instead!) the authors talk a bit about non-family members feeling like they can’t advance in the company, but not much about family members fighting about money and titles and control issues.
Or maybe I’m wrong, maybe the fact that the whole shebang is kept in the family is what keeps the doctors invested in it for lower pay?
And lastly, no one is allowed to quote Regina Herzlinger as a fucking expert on how to make healthcare commercially successful and market based. She’s a money grubbing POS and has spent much of her professional life awaiting indictment from the FBI. For them to look to her for expertise is embarrassing.
August 26, 2018
# Humble, socialist but with towering ambition and relentless drive- this is a story of what a single man can achieve despite tight noose and pervious tentacles of incumbent bureaucracy and political stalwarts. ARAVIND eye institute is a self sustaining, medical institute which caters extreme contrasts of demanding clientele with riding Mercedes on one hand and ignorant, procrastinating illiterate natives on bullock cart on another with equal fervour and panache. With plethora of stoic and pious men including the likes of APJ Abdul Kalal who endorse and eulogise it's friendly viable model which gives staggering cost package to its patients and makes them choose depending upon ability to pay and extend to fancy paraphernalia required.
This also ensures to generate enough capital profit to give free vision to unaffording lower economic class hence making huge dent in mission to dramatically reduce common cause of preventable blindness, cataract.
It gives a ray of hope to several grappling, unviable public/ charitable hospitals in India, to mould themselves in similar cast provided by Aravind eye institute to serve larger masses without compromising on quality of care with affordable cost.#
This also ensures to generate enough capital profit to give free vision to unaffording lower economic class hence making huge dent in mission to dramatically reduce common cause of preventable blindness, cataract.
It gives a ray of hope to several grappling, unviable public/ charitable hospitals in India, to mould themselves in similar cast provided by Aravind eye institute to serve larger masses without compromising on quality of care with affordable cost.#
December 31, 2020
An hero for the ages. I think I have highlights on every page. Not many examples of excellence from modern India - at least not many I hear of or get exposed to. Aravind and Dr. V is one. Much recommended, especially these days where the only narratives that sell are those that display a cynicism about the world and all human progress. Everyone needs role models, no matter how fallible the models themselves are. Gandhi has been getting a lot of heat lately, and it is fascinating to observe the impact he had on Dr.V and the establishment of Aravind. Would that be enough to redeem him, given everything else and the enormous success of Aravind? To get the scale of Dr. V's ambition, these lines from his journal are very indicative:
How do I become the perfect instrument? What a fascinating model to investigate how to get things done!
Again, much recommended.
How to organize and build more hospitals like McDonalds. And then with no warning, it shifts to, How was Buddha able to organize in those days a religion that millions follow. This question dramatically changes the plane of inquiry. Other searching questions swiftly follow: Who were the leaders. How were they shaped. How did the disciples of Christ spread their mission around the world. And then a final question that he would ask in a thousand different ways: How do I become a perfect instrument.
How do I become the perfect instrument? What a fascinating model to investigate how to get things done!
Again, much recommended.
April 18, 2023
takes a lot of words and platitudes to say that a postfordist approach to eye surgery is up to snuff, in a similar way that a municipal dog spaying and fixing program would be feasible and a benefit to community residents, but obviously more so because seeing well has a big impact on earning a living in the poor places in the subcontinent, sadly. i believe medical education should be free and open to everybody, hence i didn't like how the author softpedals the dynastic nature of aravind's administration a lot, it's not wild that children of the big visionary guy get meritoriously groomed into a profession that takes decades to train into today, but the late Dr. Venkataswamy's family structure and particular psychology gets felt most by the thousands of workers actually doing the procedures who are mainly young women that result in better vision for millions. some parts reminded me of fanon's predictions in a dying colonialism
November 2, 2023
I have been fascinated with Aravind ever since I got my LASIK done there because of how cheap and efficient the place was. And I knew a little bit about how they do free surgeries for the poor and run camps. But reading this book opened my eyes to the full magnitude of impact this one institution has had on so many Indians and people from around the world. Their financial success and social impact is one that every company should aspire for but I'm not too sure it's replicable even though Aravind itself runs programs to impart its knowledge to others. My only complaint about this book is that it should have gotten a little bit more into the hardships and conflicts that Aravind might have faced because as it stands, the book is full of praises and success stories. I hope that the third generation of the family, which is currently leading Aravind, continues to innovate and keeps the institution as the flag bearer for eye care around the world.
February 7, 2019
This book made me very happy. It is about an Indian eye hospital that is the best in the world, how it started, evolved, and grew, and the family that has been leading it for generations. It lost a star because I was listening to it on audible and the chapters didn’t seem to be organized in chronological order, so I lost track of the story sometimes and how it was organized. But the story it is telling is one of remarkable good news in a sometimes depressing world. It is truly amazing what one visionary, one family, and the movement of people they recruit to support their vision can achieve. Highly recommend!
August 15, 2024
STRONGLY recommend this read to anyone, especially those within business, healthcare, and/or humanitarian fields. And even for those who are not, I'm sure they'll still be as deeply touched and inspired by this book as I am. I found this read, although nonfiction, to be engaging and enlightening. It offers a unique perspective (and some basic reminders) on what it means to be human and to care for other humans. There are many best practices the US could (and should) glean from Aravind Eye Care, an originally 11-bed eye hospital in rural India.
July 25, 2017
I was assigned to read this book prior to my first MBA course coming up and it may be one of the greatest stories I've read to date. The book itself is a bit repetitive and choppy, but the actual story of Dr. V is truly inspiring. It's good to know there are hundreds/thousands of people who want to truly make a difference in the world, and serves as an example of how to keep compassion at the forefront of business. great read!!!
July 12, 2023
Working in the industry for eye drug treatment, this book does a fantastic job of giving a lot perspective on the world of eye treatments in India and the work that one man could do to touch so many lives in a meaningful and impactful way. I have re-read this book twice now and I still find it an inspirational read. I highly recommend this book.
January 22, 2024
what an incredible story and business. makes me want to go there myself and check it out. it lost a few stars not because of the story but because of the writing. i got lost a few time and it kept on going on and on about the same things. definitely could have been organized better
September 22, 2017
SO INSPIRING
November 17, 2018
Incredibly inspiring to see how one person’s obsession to a cause can improve the life of millions...
January 12, 2019
This is an inspirational book about physician leadership that tells the story of the Aravind Eye Center in India. The power of a single physician to create change is remarkable!
March 22, 2019
An essay stretched to make a book
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