NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Dr Ramkant Panda, vice chairman of AHI, said that late ophthalmologist Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy, an innovator par excellence, who made lenses available for two dollars, was his personal hero. Venkataswamy not only re-organized how cataract surgeries are done, by training a team of paramedicals to do 70% of the work required in each surgery, but also by producing their own low-cost intra-ocular lenses and other ophthalmic supplies to make eye-care affordable. Pfizer organised the programme and had invited about 50 healthcare professionals to attend the event at Asian Heart Institute.