Ensuring that our eye care services have a sustainable human resource model that retains local skilled workers through our programs is just one way we make this happen. Prioritizing financial self-sufficiency is another.
Seva's principal partner in India, the Aravind Eye Care System, demonstrates how cost recovery can be turned into financial self-sufficiency. They pioneered a model of high-volume, high-quality care in which services for the poor are subsidized by fees charged to those who can afford to pay.
Seva has applied this approach to other programs, helping to establish a pricing system for eye care services that will ensure financial sustainability. Lumbini Eye Institute (one of our partner hospitals in Nepal) is an excellent example. At Lumbini, 80% of the patients pay a basic fee for their eye care, approximately 10% of patients pay a higher fee and the poorest 10% receive free care. Within a year of establishing this pricing structure, Lumbini was financially self-sufficient.
This sustainable cost-recovery model means practitioners can provide eye care to the poor immediately, while ensuring high-quality eye care services will continue for many years to come. It will give future generations the tools to prevent blindness and restore sight for their own people. Because of its success, Seva now adapts this sustainable model to programs in other countries around the world.