Dr. Namperumalsamy (Dr. Nam), Chairman of the Aravind Eye Care System, and Dr. Ravindran (Dr. Ravi), Chief Medical Officer of Aravind Eye Hospital – Pondicherry, will be on hand on Wednesday, May 29th, to receive the award from Bill Gates’ father in Washington D.C. Coincidentally, Sonesh Surana and I will be in D.C. at the same time, and may meet them if there is time.
I’ve been critical of the Gates Foundation on several occasions, even mailing them a few letters to share my concern. This latest move however, is definitely worth praise.
I’ve blogged previously on how Aravind’s model not only has the potential to make better surgeons, but serve as a great model for health care everywhere. One thing that I haven’t shared is a footnote to my personal recovery story from post-tsunami illness at Aravind – Pondicherry. The hospital was working under capacity at the time (with only 500 in-patients), yet despite the demanding duties of both administration and regular patients, Dr. Ravi took the time to personally check-in on me several times over the course of my internment. Its not easy to forget kindness like that, and this beauty which flows through so many people at Aravind that has won them a permanent place in the hearts of millions of people.
If you haven’t already seen it, check out Infinite Vision, the award-winning documentary on Dr. V and the Aravind Eye Hospitals.
