Honour for Madurai ophthalmologist

P. Namperumalsamy

MADURAI: The Chairman of Aravind Eye Care System, Madurai, P. Namperumalsamy, has been recognised as one among the 100 people “who most affect our people” by the Time magazine. In its annual Time 100 issue, Time has placed Dr. Namperumalsamy under the ‘Heroes’ category.

The magazine has categorised the 100 people under four categories: Leaders, Heroes, Artists and Thinkers. Keeping Dr. Namperumalsamy company in the ‘Heroes’ list’ are Bill Clinton, Sachin Tendulkar, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Serena Williams and Rahul Singh.

This is what Time has written about Dr. Namperumalsamy: “In less time than it takes to read this magazine, a simple surgery can give a blind person her eyesight back.

“A miracle? Absolutely. But Dr. Perumalsamy Namperumalsamy, 70, and his army of cataract fixers at India’s Aravind Eye Care Hospitals make it look easy. The surgery has been around for decades, but the chairman of Aravind — which was founded in 1976 with the goal of bringing assembly-line efficiency to health care — figured out how to replace cataracts safely and quickly: 3.6 million surgeries to date, a new one every 15 minutes.

“Equally brilliant is the business model: the 30% of patients who can afford to pay subsidize free or low-cost care for the 70% who are poor. “All people have a right to sight,” Namperumalsamy says. As I write these words after a long day spent in the slums in India, I cannot tell you how much admiration I have for him and his team.”

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/01/stories/2010050163460800.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu