Aravind Eye Care’s Vision Centers

– Reaching Out To The Rural Poor

VISION MISSION
To focus on improving total health of To eliminate needless blindness by
the country providing compassionate and high
quality eye care to all.
 Aravind Eye Care System- Foundation

• Not for profit Eye hospital

• Unique model of providing high quality of services at very low
cost on a sustainable basis
• Founded in 1976 with 11 beds at his home in Madurai. In
2015, Aravind had 10 hospitals, with over 4,000 beds,
operational in Tamil Nadu
• In 2014-15 doctors at Aravind treated more than 3.5 million
patients and conducted over 400,000 surgeries assisted by
trained local paramedics
• Aravind did not used cross subsidization to sustain operations
• Their biggest challenge was to make eye care affordable and
at the same time ensure sustainability
RURAL AREA: MARKET SEGMENT

In order to tailor the marketing program to the needs and wants

of rural customer Aravind Eye Care followed Grass root
Marketing:

 Through icams, vision centres and telemedicine , they

provided comprehensive care by integrating information
technology effectively that would provide quality care at
doorsteps
 They collaborated with community and promoted eye
health education to create awareness proactively
 Changed the health-seeking behaviour of the community
which helped them move from eye- camps to a sustainable
center- based approach
Patient Loyalty
Steps Taken By Arvind Eye Care VCs

 Use of Telemedicine at VCs

 Hired Local Staff

 Field Workers

 A Mega Camp for Diabetic Retinopathy Screening

 Monthly Visits of Ophthalmologists

Growth Over Years

Consultations
450000
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
Consultations
150000
100000
50000
0

No. of Vision Centers

60

50

40

30
No. of Vision Centers
20

10

0
Financial Performance
Thirupuvanam
1000000

800000
Total Revenues

Amount in rupee
600000
Total Variable
400000 Expenses
Total Fixed
200000 Expenses
Net Income
0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
-200000
Year

Alanganallur
1000000

800000
Total Revenues
Amount in rupees

600000
Total Variable
400000 Expenses
Total Fixed
200000 Expenses
Net Income
0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
-200000
Year
Market segmentation

Step –I :Need
With an intrinsic want to make lives of people full of
based colors Doctor ‘V’ , implemented his idea of providing low
segmentation cost service to everyone who couldn’t afford it
otherwise.
People who needed the services were identified on the
Step –II: basis of- Rural or urban , affordability or non-
affordable , geographical distance, population size of
Segmentation the villages and requirement of medical services by
identification assessment of number of patients(statistically).
- See exhibit 9

India’s market size for Eye Care sector was more than
Step-III : 43000 crores but the way Aravind Eye Care were carrying
Segment out it’s chances of finding another player were impossible.
Attractiveness Everyone was bound to quit either because of the rural
rea and lack of profitable avenues in the segment .
Continued

.
Step IV: Segment profitability- The business model of
aravind eye care didn’t focus on revenues but on
economies of scale and worked on sustainability as their
model of doing business.

Step V: Segment Positioning - The customer segment of

lower income families providing quality service at a
much lower price, or even free, reduces the struggles of
these families. The consumer is having multiple pains
relieved while Aravind is providing an essential pain
reliever, both financial and medical.

Step VI: Segment Ácid’ Test- Acid testing of methods

on our segment of consumers i.e. in this case aravind eye
care first started eye checkup camps but shifted to VC’s
because of which there was a health seeking behavior in
people . Also , telemedicine was only possible because of
implementation of the idea of VC’s.
Marketing Mix Strategy
PRODUCT:
• Aravind eye care by creating
awareness is creating demand of the
product in an area thus expanding the
market of the product.
• The camps and VC’s helped people
with quality aids .
PRICE:
• They focused on low cost pricing by
economies of scale which is not
common in eye care or any other
health care sector which was also
completely unique of them.
PLACE:
• They identified market on the basis of
the size of population and the
geographical area which gave them
monopoly in coverage and they being
the first of their kind in that they were
the only major services in that
location.
PROMOTION:
• They initially started with camps and
low cost pricing but with the kind of
mission and goal they had in mind
they received promotion by word of
mouth .
Measurable
 Each VC was designed to cater to 50,000 people in 15 to 20
villages.
 The target for each VC to reach at least 5000 patients

Substantial
• There were many patients in rural areas and small
towns
• The VC’s are established to reach out to patients who could
not afford travel for treatment
Accessible
 Only 8% of the potential patients were visiting their eye camps
 They built permanent setup to increase its reach among
patients
 They provided Consultation and patients could buy medicines
and spectacles at the VC’s.
 Each VC operated for 8 hours each day for 6 days a week.

Differentiable
• They focused on human welfare by providing high quality, low
cost treatment to a large number of patients.
• They reduced the per use cost by increasing the utilization of
capital equipment.
Actionable
 They used tele-medicine consultation to treat the patients
 They also provided transport, food and other reimbursement to
the patients requiring surgeries at the base hospital