Low-cost intraocular lenses (Aurolab)
Lentes intraoculares de bajo coste (Aurolab)
- Date
- 1992 · confidence high
- Place
- Aravind Eye Care / Aurolab, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
- Credited to
- Govindappa Venkataswamy, David Green and Aravind Eye Care System
- People
- 👤 David Green1960–👤 Govindappa Venkataswamy1918–2006
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Local manufacture of intraocular lenses at a fraction of Western prices, combined with an assembly-line organisation of small-incision cataract surgery. It made the operation affordable for millions of people in poor countries.
The intraocular lens was invented by Harold Ridley in London (1949); the Indian contribution is large-scale production and organisation.
What it led to
- reduction of cataract blindness in India
- high-volume, low-cost healthcare model