TGIS
Background
Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy was born on October 1, 1918 in a village called Vadamalapuram. The village did not have any doctors. Govindappa decided to become a doctor to serve his people and also because of the fact that he lost three cousins due to pregnancy-related complication, when he was only 10.
Education
Post schooling, Venkataswamy earned his bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from American College, Madurai, and further went on to get his medical degree from Stanley Medical College, Madras - coming second in his class - and finally his MS in Ophthalmology from Govt Ophthalmic Hospital, Madras.
Inspiration
During this term, the young and passionate Govindappa (who is now fondly addressed as Dr V) followed the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda and Aurobindo.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
After he lost his father, he served as a physician with the Indian Army, before his rare condition of rheumatoid arthritis permanently twisted his fingers out of shape and left him bed-ridden.
Return to medicine
He did return to medicine, but not in his field of obstetrics. Practicing ophthalmology, he was appointed the head of Govt Madurai Medical College’s ophthalmology dept, and also as an eye surgeon at Govt Erskine Hospital, Madurai -- and long held these posts for 20 years.
Sir John Wilson
It was at a conference on rehabilitation for the blind when Dr V met Sir John Wilson, founder of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, who inspired him to develop a global view on blindness prevention.
Sight-restoration for rural India
The two established a lifelong friendship, met Indira Gandhi to help launch India’s National Program for the Control of Blindness, and that is where Govindappa’s initiatives towards sight-restoration for rural India (or what we today commonly call eye camps) began. He established a rehabilitation centre for the blind in 1966, and Ophthalmic Assistants Training Program in 1973, performed over a hundred thousand successful eye surgeries in his tenure, and also started India’s first nutrition rehabilitation centre where children with potentially blinding Vitamin A deficiency received treatment (with their mothers being trained for their nutrition as well).
Aravind model
Known and adopted worldwide as the Aravind model or system, Venkataswamy’s ‘factory line’ concept sees an average 40 eye camps held at rural villages every week with no income assessments or eligibility criteria for subsidised treatment, self-selection of services and room-types by patients based on their ability to pay, high-skilled nurses and personnel -- among other brilliant frameworks.
After many years of devoted service, Dr V died in 2006. However, Aravind continues to work toward his goal of ending needless blindness.
