Arvind Eye Hospital is an example of how low cost, self-sustainable CSR (corporate social responsibility) models can be built. I remember Arvind was my first case study that I deliberated upon in my MBA program at XLRI. Today's concept of CSR is not about doing a charity which is funded by big corporate houses but one where a corporate provides a kick start and then the whole model works on its own to generate money for itself and serve the cause of society. There are number of examples of such CSRs. Coming back to Arvind, for people unfamiliar with this name, it provides free and paid eye care facilities where the paid eye care subsidizes the free. The health-care facilities at the hospital is world class and there is no difference between whats available to paid patient and to free. The hospital also runs manufacturing facilities where they manufacture glasses which is one-fourth the market-price.
The latest innovation from Arvind has been low cost maintenance of high-end equipments. These equipments were traditionally managed by costly technicians most of which took up contracts of similar equipments in an area introducing delays in servicing in case a complaint arose. Arvind started training some low-end support staff of their hospital leading to most of the maintenance work being done in-house than outsourcing it. As the word spread, more such hospitals from India started sending their folks to Arvind for training and soon Arvind had a dedicated center for training. This center today trains people from other third world countries too including Vietnam, Nigeria etc.
I would suggest readers to read more about Arvind. Obviously, there is more to read and learn from such CSR models.
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