Today the Search Engine Google is celebrating Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy's 100th Birthday
with Google Doodle in India , Australia and New Zealand.
Govindappa Venkataswamy was a visionary Indian ophthalmologist who dedicated his life to
eliminating needless blindness.
He is the founder and former chairman of Aravind Eye Hospitals, the largest provider of eye
care in the world.
Known as Dr. V to colleagues and patients, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy, founded the Aravind
Eye Hospital, which started as an 11 bed facility and has grown into a network of clinics providing
life changing care to citizens of a nation struggling with high rates of blindness.
Born on this day in 1918, Govindappa Venkataswamy was raised in Vadamalapuram, a rural village
in Southern India.
He began his education at a school with no paper or pencils spreading sand from the riverbank
on the ground, students would write with their hands.
From such humble beginnings he went on to earn a B.A. in chemistry from American College
in Madurai, an M.D. from Stanley Medical College in Madras in 1944.
Despite his health issues, he learned how to perform surgery to remove cataracts—the
leading cause of blindness.
Dr. V could perform 100 surgeries in a day.
Addressing the problem of blindness in a holistic fashion, he set up eye camps in rural communities,
a rehab center for blind people, and a training program for ophthalmic assistants, personally
performing over 100,000 successful eye surgeries.
In 1973 he received the Padmashree award from the Government of India for outstanding service
to the nation.
Facing mandatory retirement at age 58, Dr. V began the next phase of his career in 1976,
establishing the GOVEL Trust in order to fund the first Aravind Eye Hospital.
The 11-bed facility was financed by doctors mortgaging their homes and donating their
own furniture.
The vision was to devote six beds to those patients who could not pay anything and to
cover those costs with the other five beds, serving patients paying only as much as they
could afford.
Today Aravind Eye Hospital has nearly 4,000 beds performing over 200,000 eye surgeries
each year, with 70% of patients paying little or nothing.
This seemingly miraculous result has been made possible by a relentless focus on efficiency
and good management.
Dr. V lowered the cost of cataract operations to nearly $10 per patient.
His team of paramedicals do most of the prep work required for each surgery, freeing doctors
to do what they do best.
Each year Aravind performs 60% as many eye surgeries as the NHS in Great Britain, doing
so at one-one thousandth of the cost.
As Dr V said, Intelligence and capability are not enough.
There must also be the joy of doing something beautiful.
Happy 100th Birthday Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy
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