Indian School of Business & Harvard Business Publishing has used our business model as an example for creating and sustaining a social enterprise.
Harvard Business Publishing Main Case
NEW Creating and Sustaining a Social Enterprise:
The Vittala Story, S. Ramnarayan, Sunita Mehta
Organizational behavior, Organizational values, Innovation, Leadership, Social enterprise, Organizational culture, Family businesses, Social responsibility Vittala International Institute of Ophthalmology (Vittala), a not-for-profit organization was involved in providing free / highly subsidized eye care to the rural and the economically under privileged population in the state of Karnataka, India.The case describes the challenges faced by the founder and his family in building the state-of-the-art institution and sustaining it through its difficult initial years. They had to build awareness of avoidable blindness, make eye care accessible and affordable, and develop the right networks and alliances, all within limited resources. Unlike certain eye care issues such as cataract, Vittala focused on retinal eye care problems that required periodic monitoring and treatment. Diagnosis required sophisticated and expensive equipment, which had to be made available in far-flung small towns and villages, and that posed difficulties. To address the challenges, the organization and its founders executed pioneering innovations in organizational arrangements and processes. The case closes with the dilemma facing Dr Krishna, Director of Vittala, which was to examine how the social enterprise could enhance the revenue streams to increase Vittala's reach in providing eye to the economically disadvantaged citizens. He needs to consider issues like creating the right balance of paying and non-paying patients to ensure sustainable operations, consistent quality of care, keeping technology updated, and attracting and retaining medical staff with right skills and values. The case is significant as it highlights what is required to make healthcare accessible and affordable to the poor, and how policy measures can be executed at the ground level through appropriate organizing efforts. It describes how the founder inculcated a system of values to keep the family members together, thus contributing to the effectiveness and sustainability of the social enterprise.
The software developed by Graphene in conjunction with VIIO was displayed and appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Innovators meet at Singapore.
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'PM Narendra Modi in Singapore commended the work we are doing in rural India'
Jun 02, 2018, 20:39 IST | ANI In the exhibition, held at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, the experts talked about their initiative for early detection and treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) among rural patients.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while in Singapore, visited the India-Singapore Enterprise and Innovation Exhibition, where he was presented with a demonstration on how a group of Indian doctors have been delivering a high standard of care to the country's most remote communities. In the exhibition, held at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, the experts talked about their initiative for early detection and treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) among rural patients.
Prime Minister Modi and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hseng Loong jointly reviewed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology of Singapore-based firm Graphene, which has been adopted by the pioneering doctors of Karnataka's Vittala Institute of Ophthal-mology. Dr Krishna and his team have spent decades developing protocols and systems to offer care to remote rural patients from their Bengaluru-based hospital, via their program Nayana.
The program was established in 2006 as a pilot with support from the World Diabetes Foundation to detect, diagnose and treat DR in villages of Karnataka, through a unique system- Mobile Clinic. As the name suggests, it is an indigenously built van, carrying all the necessary equipment required to treat DR and customised with special shock absorbing cages/boxes to protect delicate, expensive equipment on treacherous roads in rural Karnataka. The program enabled sharing of DR equipment and expertise, with 83 practicing ophthalmologists in 24 geographical locations spanning 13 districts in state of Karnataka.
Since 2016, this program has been expanded to include electronic medical records and patient tracking system. With the help of Coronis ' a patient care tech platform from Graphene Service Pte ltd, Singapore based health-tech start-up ' Nayana has been able to register and track 5000 patients regularly.
Talking about the need for the inclusion of the AI technology, Dr Krishna told ANI, "We were happy with what we were doing but there was still one big lacuna. Patients who you treat and want them to come for a follow-up, still miss out, for various reasons. So, we thought, What if we had an active method of tracking each and every patient. Manually, it's very difficult to track thousands of patients. Hence, we were on a lookout for a good electronic records system and that's when Graphene came into picture."
"On Thursday, we were represented by Graphene when Prime Minister Modi visited our stall. I got to know he was very interested in the program. He wanted to know where it was happening, which district in Karnataka. He did congratulate the team there on their good work and asked them to continue with it," added Dr Krishna.
While Singapore is the latest country to learn from their program, it is also being actively explored by hospitals in the United States, Japan and Switzerland, and has been adopted by hospitals in Thailand and Bangladesh.
VIIO has been achieved the SUPER STAR Status & earned the following badges on the Global Giving platform for the exemplary work carried out during the year 2018.
From: Michael Gale, GlobalGiving [mailto:projecthelp@globalgiving.org]
Sent: 16/01/2019 07:36 PM
To: Krishna Murthy
Subject: Your 2018 Annual Statement + Badge
Hi Krishna,
Congratulations on a great year! We are thrilled that Vittala International Institute of Ophthalmology is an active member of the GlobalGiving community with a GG Rewards Superstar status as of Dec. 31, 2018. We're proud to share some highlights from our past year together. In 2018, your organization... We know that this is just some of the great work that you led in 2018 and we're honored to be a part of it! In celebration of your hard work, we created these badges for you to post on your organization's website, social media, email signature, and more. Thank you for your partnership - we look forward to our journey together in the year ahead!
Warmly
Michael Gale + the GlobalGiving Team GlobalGiving Foundation is a 501(C) 3 Organisation (Washington DC 2) (EIM: 3) 11 VermAvNW, Su550, Was, D2. Global Giving UK is registered charity (#1122823) United Kingdom. Congratulations, Vittala International Institute of Ophthalmology has earned the following badges on Global Giving:
Declaration as Avoidable Blindness Free Areas(ABFA) in the project areas
Padrayanapura, Nandini Layout & Jigani - Three Municipal Corporation wards of Bengaluru- have been taken up as project areas, with support from OEU & Givaudan, totalling about 4 lakh population. We have set up one vision centre in each of these 3 wards The population is a combination of slum dwellers, low & middle income group.
We have achieved a small goal towards our mission of vision in declaring a portion of all the above 3 project areas as Avoidable blindness free area.
To achieve quality, We have cleared the entry level NABH - OUR JOURNEY TOWARDS NABH ACCREDITATION
Need for Accreditation-The practice of medicine is changing and patients are not just remedies for health issues but are also seeking 'good health'. The dynamics of the industry in which we operate are changing very rapidly and it is not enough to just attain 'quality' but to also sustain it and make 'continuous quality improvement' an integral part of our day to day life. Whether it is at work or anywhere else for that matter, to become a quality conscious and quality oriented person is the mantra for success for us as individuals and as an organization.
Accreditation usually involves measuring one healthcare unit against another equivalent one, which proves to be a great motivator as it encourages healthy competition. It also involves providing feedback to the accredited organization in its progress towards quality goals and areas requiring attention and improvement.
The National Accreditation Board for Hospital & Healthcare Providers (NABH) is the accepted standard proposed by QCI for hospitals as it reflects provision of the highest levels of patient care and patient safety. The accreditation standards are listed in the NABH Manual and are functionally divided into 10 chapters:
