The Small Idea:
One rented house. Eleven beds. A belief that no one should lose their vision simply because they cannot afford it.
The Big Impact:
Today, Aravind Eye Hospital is the world’s largest eye care provider:
- 70+ million outpatients
- 6+ million surgeries (many free or subsidized)
- Intraocular lenses made affordable through Aurolab
- A rural outreach model empowering women and saving sight
From that modest beginning in Madurai, Dr. P. Namperumalswamy helped shape what would become the world’s largest eye care provider—Aravind Eye Hospital. A pioneering retinal surgeon and a systems thinker, he quietly built a healthcare model that married medical excellence with compassion, efficiency with equity.
What set Dr. Nam apart was his ability to think long-term while acting locally. He championed a cross-subsidy model where paying patients helped cover costs for the underserved. He brought assembly-line efficiency to eye surgeries without compromising on care. He envisioned—and built—rural vision centres that took world-class treatment to the last mile.
As Director and later Chairman of Aravind, he oversaw the transformation of a small clinic into a global institution. Under his watch, over 70 million patients were treated, more than 6 million surgeries performed, and Aurolab was born—a manufacturing arm that dramatically reduced the cost of intraocular lenses and eye care devices.
Dr. Nam worked quietly, without fuss or fanfare. He believed in waking up each day and doing better than the last. His style was unassuming, his results extraordinary.
His Legacy:
He created a ripple effect in healthcare:
✅ Gender empowerment through rural technician training
✅ Scalable, ethical healthcare models
✅ Eye care access to India’s remotest corners
✅ Proof that medicine and empathy can coexist at scale
Dr. Nam gave light—not only to eyes, but to the way we imagine medicine itself. A small idea, deeply held, became a revolution in service.
This article is part of the “Small Ideas, Big Impact” series by Prabodh Jain.