McSurgery: fast eye operations in India - 20th October 2021

Over half a million eye operations are being conducted annually by a group of hospitals in India which is the brainchild of Doctor Govindappa Venkataswamy.

Inspired by a trip to McDonald's Hamburger University in Chicago, Venkataswamy founded the Aravind Eye hospital in 1976, basing it upon the business model instigated by McDonald's revolutionary CEO, Ray Kroc.

He was convinced that if McDonald's could do it for burgers, then it could also be done for eye clinics. The first of its kind, Aravind Eye Hospital was initially a modest 11-bed unit, but the concept has since been widely replicated.

Although approximately 10 million blind people live in India, 50 million more are afflicted by visual impairments which surgery can correct as the hospital's operations director, Thulasiraj Ravilla, points out.

Thulasiraj Ravilla: "And the bulk of this blindness is not necessary because lots of it is due to cataract, which can be easily set right through a simple surgery."

Needing to catch up on a backlog of operations caused by the pandemic, theatres are now working flat out. This has meant surgeons operating over longer periods to attend to all those in need of treatment.

Thulasiraj Ravilla: "So, typically we start, the theatre starts at 7am. Maybe the first case may come out at 7.15 or 7.30. So that continues, that has not changed. But then in the past, we would be done by lunchtime. You know, and after that they, they would prep the theatre for the next day. But now it's not uncommon for the surgery to go on till four o'clock, or three o'clock, four o'clock, like that."

In spite of the vast numbers of surgeries being conducted and the speed of the process, infection rates post cataract surgery are remarkably low, numbering just two per 10,000 patients. This compares to between 4 and 8 per 10,000 for similar procedures in the UK and US.

Patients benefiting from the surgery have no qualms over its speed or the 'McDonald's approach'.

Venkatachalam Rajangam: "I thought the operation would be for an hour but within 15 minutes everything was over. But it didn't feel rushed. The procedure was done properly."