The Aravind way ..

We are all aware of the Toyota way which explains to the world the spirit and enterprise behind the Toyota Motor Company, how they operate and how Toyota has come to be the global leader in four wheeler transportation. Toyota Way's 14 principles are given here. 

If one has to speak in brief about the Toyota Way, it is all about doing things right the first time and continuous improvement. Respect for people and responding to the market needs through a pull system of production adds to the great impact Toyota has over the years had on the global manufacturing system. 

Automobile manufacturing being the largest manufacturing operation in the world, naturally the largest global automobile manufacturer becomes the world's largest manufacturer.

Recently during a visit to the world's largest eye care facility, I happened to come across the Aravind way.The seven points of the Aravind way are given below.

1. Making eye-care accessible to all
2. Incorporate quality and continuous improvement
3. Patient-centricity and compassion
4. Self-reliance / finding a way
5. Frugality
6. Staff centricity
7. Sharing

7 Principles of Aravind way ..

Explaining the Aravind Way in simple terms , it hovers around the concept of compassion and the urge to avoid needless blindness. By closing our eyes for just five minutes, we find how difficult it is to live. All other physical disabilities give you discomfort , one still enjoys the world around, but blindness kills your spirit to survive.

In  our visit to Aravind eye care headquarters hospital in Madurai, what we felt striking was the compassion and altruism, the unselfish desire to do good to society. 

All activities at Aravind were centered around the patient. The extreme patient centricity be it in the way patients are registered or in the way they are taken around the facility for testing and treatment, there was utmost care and concern, irrespective of whether the patient was paid or unpaid. 

Toyota speaks of value added activity and plotting the value stream. Any activity that does not add value adds to the cost.  Similarly the mindset in Aravind has been to avoid all non-value adding activities - frugality. Frugality was observed in the way the hospital was arranged, the bare essentials were always available, but not the extra luxury or comforts. The entire Madurai hospital was air-conditioned, to enable patient comfort, especially during the summer months in Madurai where the temperatures could go very high around 40deg centigrade.

Because of the Aravind facility, patients in Tamil Nadu and nearby states like Andhra, a new facility has been opened in Tirupathi, Andhra lately, eye care has become accessible to everyone. 

Finding a local solution to all eye care related problems and developing the self reliant mindset has enabled the Aravind system to innovate itself and be a self reliant model to the whole world.

Not discriminating between the paying and free patient and be able to give almost 50% of all surgeries for free to the needy patients speaks volumes of the sharing mindset the Aravind system espouses to the whole world.

Hoping they are able to continue doing the great service to humanity and be able to spread to other parts of India and the world in the near future.

Like the Toyota Way, Aravind way also speaks of Continuous Improvement, that hidden urge withing oneself to continue to serve better the society around oneself and to bring in better and useful innovations to the needy patients.

Toyota speaks of giving respect to people, the employees of Toyota, Similarly Aravind system respects the staff who are engaged in the process, medical and admin. While talking to the staff we could see the contentment they carried of the system that reflected in their actions, speech and the way they conducted themselves. 

Wishing the Aravind system grow and prosper to great heights and be of great service to society.

George.