Dr AM Arun, founder of Vasan Eye Care, dead at 51

Dr A M Arun, who built a healthcare company ‘Vasan Healthcare’ that runs a chain of eyecare hospitals starting from a single pharmacy in Tamil Nadu, died here on Monday. He was 51.

While a corporate hospital here said he was brought dead, the police, quoting preliminary inputs, said the death appeared to be only of natural causes.

However, the body has been sent for a postmortem. “He (Dr Arun) was found motionless in his home and was rushed to a hospital. We understand from the inputs that his death was not by suicide,” a senior police official told PTI adding that the post-mortem report was not expected immediately.

Congress Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga, Karti P Chdiambaram, in his twitter handle, said, “Deeply saddened by the untimely passing away of my dear friend &
entrepreneur Dr Arun @vasanhealth. He was a pioneer who envisioned & built a great company which attracted big PE @Sequoia_India @sequoia @Temasek, unfortunately was hounded by agencies for collateral purposes. RIP.”

According to the Vasan eyecare’s website, Dr Arun followed the footsteps of his grandfather and built a healthcare group that provided affordable treatment.

Arun ventured into the healthcare business by taking over a small medical shop in Tiruchirappalli with a reputation of over 60 years and went on to build a network of eyecare hospitals in multiple locations.

The healthcare group, which includes Vasan Healthcare Private Limited and Vasan Medical Centre (India) Private Limited, had faced searches by income tax department on their premises and an appeal connected to the proceedings also was filed in the Madras High Court.