RIP Dr Namperumalsamy: Doyen of ophthalmology in India is no more

Listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by the Time magazine, Namperumalsamy is one of the brains behind the success of Aravind model.

Chennai: Dr P Namperumalsamy, the country’s first retina specialist and co-founder of the Madurai-based Aravind Eye Care System known for heavily subsiding treatment for the poor, passed away on Thursday at the age of 85. 

A doyen of ophthalmology in India, the US-educated and trained Namperumalsamy established India’s first low vision aid clinic in the 1970s and launched the first-of-its-kind Vitreous Surgery Centre at Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. The Chairman Emeritus of Aravind Eye Care is survived by his wife Nachiar and two sons, Venkatesh Prajna and Vishnu Prasad. 

Listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by the prestigious Time magazine in 2010, Namperumalsamy is one of the brains behind the success of the Aravind model: 30 per cent of patients who can afford to pay subsidise the treatment of 70 per cent of patients who are poor. 

"All people have a right to sight," Namperumalsamy told Time in 2010. 

A postgraduate fellow of the University of Illinois, Chicago in the US, Dr Namperumalsamy’s heart always beat for the poor. His contribution to eye care in India has been phenomenal and he pioneered the treatment of Vitreo-Retinal disorders and trained thousands of ophthalmologists, propagating these specialised skills across India and far beyond. 

After launching the Low-Vision Aid Centre in Madurai in 1971, he along with Dr G Venkatasamy and others launched Aravind Eye Hospital with just 11 beds in Madurai in 1976 which has now grown into one of the largest networks of hospitals for eye care in the country with about 60 branches. 

Under Dr Namperumalsamy’s chairmanship, Aravind Eye Hospital received the 2010 Conrad N Hilton Humanitarian Prize, which is awarded annually to an organization that does extraordinary work to alleviate human suffering. 

The unique tiered pricing system – free, subsidised and paid services with high-quality treatment attracted thousands of people to Aravind Eye Hospitals, a household name in Tamil Nadu. The hospital let the patients choose the category under which they would like to avail the treatment – one patient who opted for paid services helped in subsidising the pre and post-operative care of two non-paying patients.

Dr Namperumalsamy also established Centre of Relevance and Excellence in Diabetic Retinopathy, in association with Govt. of India, World Diabetes Foundation, Denmark and TOPCON, Tokyo towards creating awareness and health education as well as providing training, research and management of diabetic retinopathy. 

Condolences poured in from the medical fraternity with doctors lauding Dr Namperumalsamy’s contributions to ophthalmology and in ensuring that poor got affordable eye care treatment. “Dr Namperumalsamy was a legend and a pioneer in the field of Ophthalmology. Under his visionary leadership, Aravind Eye Hospital grew to become one of the largest eye care institutions in the world,” said Dr V Mohan, a renowned diabetologist.

Amar Agarwal, chairman, Dr Agarwal's Group of Eye Hospitals, said what the Aravind Eye Care Group has created under his leadership is just phenomenal.

“His contribution is not only in the number of patients he treated, which was huge, but also the number of doctors he trained. All these doctors are treating patients all over the world and helping eradicate blindness. The legacy he has left will remain forever,” he added.