Aravind Eye Hospital

You’ll find our place on Swamy Nellaiappar High Road, very close to the bus stand at Tirunelveli Junction. Because we are so close to the station, we get people arriving by bus from all the nearby villages. It stays very busy from the early hours of the morning. People are usually lined up before we even open the doors. The hospital is mostly focused on eyes, so you’ll see lots of people with bandages or waiting for their vision tests. The building is large to accommodate the crowds, but it still feels packed sometimes. We have a routine down, where people move from one station to the next for their checkups. It’s a bit like a system that just keeps running. The staff is used to the high volume and they work fast to make sure everyone gets seen before the day ends. Since it’s near the junction, there’s always the sound of horns and buses outside. We don’t have much in the way of fancy lobby furniture, just rows of benches for people to sit on while they wait. It’s a no-nonsense kind of place. We’ve been here in Tirunelveli for a long time and most people know exactly where we are. We just do the work and try to help as many people see better as we can.