Aravind Vision Centres, have grown in the last two decades to a network of 100+ centres covering a population of 10 million. This has evolved as a key strategy to provide permanent and sustainable access to the unreached. To date (March 2023), the VC network has handled 6.8 million outpatient visits, delivered 872,000 spectacles and facilitated 235,000 cataract surgeries. Going by the annual performance of now handling close to 1 million outpatient visits, the Aravind Network of Vision Centres are probably the largest provider of primary eye care in the world. In order to strengthen this network, it is important for us to reflect on what went well, what needs to improve and where we need to focus further.
Focus on variations and outliers
- Performance (April to March,2023)
( performance segregation of VCs based on OP , IP , Specs and Specialty) - No of Vision Centres – 107
- New Outpatients – 527,508
- Review Outpatients – 401,590
- Total Outpatient visits – 929,098
Adherence to clinical protocol (magnitude of the problem)
- Refraction
- IOP monitoring in 40 and above age group,
- Fundus imaging in 40 and above age group,
- Blood sugar & BP measurement in 40 and above age group,
- % of patients undergoing teleconsultation
Addressing current pain points in running VCs
- Human resources
- Attendance –
- Plan for HR from the local area and new recruits in proposed locations
- Enlarging the pool of VT by training OP, OT, and ward staff (E see)
- Volunteers to do fundus
- Other issues – List the pain points (Things to do: Talk to the Chief medical officers and stakeholders who run vision centres to understand the paint points and also probable solutions)
Review of new technologies and their relevance to our Vision centres, towards
coming up with new common standards for equipment and technology in VCs
- Fundus imaging (for DR & Glaucoma)
- Portable Perimeter
- Photo slit lamp camera
- Auto-refactor e-See
- Artificial intelligence in DR, Glaucoma and other areas
- Distributed Telemedicine in the Base hospital (show some evidence of not adding more load to the patients) – work on login doctors availability