'The city of Madurai is best known for its spectacular Hindu temples. Built several years ago, they still attract thousands of worshippers. But in recent years, Madurai has been attracting thousands of new visitors. These are not sightseers, rather they are people seeking to have their sight restored -pilgrims of modern medicine. (They come to Aravind Eye Hospital at Madurai which) many experts consider one of the finest eye hospitals in the world.' - MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, 1989

Founded in 1976 by Dr. G. Venkataswamy with the mission to eliminate needless blindness, Aravind is the largest and most productive eye care facility in the world. Taking its compassionate services to the doorstep of rural India, Aravind's stunningly effective strategies vaulted barriers of distance, poverty and ignorance to create a self-sustaining system. From April 2009 to March 2010, including the work done in the Managed Eye Hospitals, over 2.5million out patients were treated and over 300,000 surgeries were performed.

Today the Aravind Eye Care System encompasses five hospitals, three managed eye hospitals, a manufacturing center for ophthalmic products, an international research foundation and a resource and training center that is revolutionizing hundreds of eye care programs across the developing world.