Aravind Eye Care System’s Focused Low-Cost Strategy
Cataracts, the largest cause of preventable blindness, can be treated with a quick surgical
procedure that restores sight; however, poverty and limited access to care prevent millions
worldwide from obtaining surgery. The Aravind Eye Care System has found a way to address
this problem., with a focused low-cost strategy that has made cataract surgery not only
affordable for more people in India, but free for the very poorest. Based on this strategy,
Aravind has achieved world renown and become one of the largest provider of eye care in the
world.
High volume and high efficiency are the cornerstones of Aravind’s strategy. The Aravind
network with its five eye hospitals in India has become one of the most productive systems in
the world, conducting about 300,000 surgeries a year in addition to seeing over 2.6 million
outpatients each year. Using the unique model of screening eye camps all over the country,
Aravind reaches a broader cross-section of the market for surgical treatment. Additionally,
Aravind attains very high staff productivity with each surgeon performing more than 2,500
surgeries annually, compared to 125 for a comparable American surgeon.
What enabled this level of productivity (with no loss in quality of care) was the development
of a standardized system of surgical treatment, capitalizing on the fact that cataract removal
was already a fairly routine process. Aravind streamlined as much of the process as possible,
reducing discretionary elements to a minimum, and tracking outcomes to ensure continuous
process improvement. At Aravind’s hospitals, there is no wasted time between surgeons as
different teams of support staff prepare patients for surgery and bring them to the operating
theatre so that surgeons simply need to turn from one table to another to perform surgery on
the next-prepared patient. Aravind also reduced costs by creating its manufacturing division,
Aurolab, to produce intraocular lenses, suture needles, pharmaceuticals, and surgical blades
in India.
Aravind’s low costs allow them to keep their prices for cataract surgery very low at Rs
500.00 ($10) per patient, compared to an average cost of $1500 for surgery in the US.
Nevertheless, the system provides surgical outcomes and quality comparable to clinics in the
United States. As a result of its unique fee system and effective management, Aravind can
also provide free eye care to 60 percent of its patients from the revenue generated from
paying.
