Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy's 100th Birthday

"Attachment to your village, your hospital, your state or country—that must go. You must live in your soul and face the universal consciousness. To see all as one. To have this vision and work with strength and wisdom all over the world...to give sight for all." -Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy 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. Joining the Indian Army Medical Corps straight out of medical school, Dr. V’s plans for a career in obstetrics were derailed when he was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis so severe that he was confined to his bed for a year. Simple acts like walking or holding a pen became a serious challenge, but somehow he managed to return to school and study for a degree in ophthalmology in 1951. 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. V! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Special thanks to the family of Dr. Venkataswamy for their partnership on this project. Below, they share their thoughts on Dr. V's Legacy: It was a dream that seemed impossible. But the 11-bed clinic that Dr.V founded in 1976 is now home to the largest, most productive eye care system in the world. It has seen over 55 million patients and performed over 6.8 million surgeries. More than half of its patients receive care for free or at deeply subsidized rates.With a heart of compassion and a rare set of commitments, this retired surgeon with crippled fingers shaped a service delivery model that continues to baffle the world with its quality, self-reliance and scale. Yet Dr V. was also a man of such simplicity that he could easily be mistaken for an elderly patient as he walked through the corridors of the hospital he created. For the last few decades of his life he began each morning with a visit to Aravind's meditation room and a reading from Sri Aurobindo's 'Savitri'. The door to his office was always open and his punctuality was legendary. On Sunday mornings he convened a meeting of Aravind's third generation, the youngest member at the time was one, the oldest thirteen. Each child was assigned a topic that they would present to the entire senior leadership of Aravind. It was Dr. V's way of bringing the family together, and cultivating the next generation.He was a demanding leader, yet his demands were selfless. He often reminded his team that Aravind existed not just to restore sight, but to affirm human dignity. He never stopped learning. Our thanks to the team at Google for this delightful Doodle. It is a fitting tribute to this man's centennial—he had such faith in the power of technology to do good. A hundred years after he took his first breath, Dr. V's spirit continues to fuel the daily work of those of us privileged to participate in his vision. He showed us the measure of what a human life can hold, the good it can channel. We're grateful for the hundreds of partners who have aligned their energies and resources with his mission, for the thousands of people who have joined his staff, and for the millions of patients who have trusted Aravind with their eyes. There is still much work to be done to eliminate needless blindness. There is also the conviction that together, we can do it. As we unite to face the complex challenges of our times, may these quiet words from Dr. V offer inspiration: "When we grow in spiritual consciousness, we identify with all that is in the world, and there is no exploitation. It is ourselves we are helping. It is ourselves we are healing.".

01.10.2018-Monday-திங்கள்-Doodle-Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy's 100th Birthday-PNG.