Curing cataracts in Nepal’s most isolated areas
On the 16th of April, the Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation conducted their second high-volume outreach microsurgical eye camp (OMEC). This took place in Nepal’s Solukhumbu District which is located in the foothills of Mount Everest.
The camp took place over three days with the groundwork for the camp being planned long before. Unlike previous Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation camps such as the one in Lumbini, the team could not ask patients to come to the screening centre. Therefore, a medical team was needed to reach out to the remote corners of the district to identify patients with cataracts.
Amongst them was Shri Mani Rai, an elderly woman who had been blind due to cataracts for the past four years. She lived alone in the remote Himalayan outback and was dependent upon her daughter who lived fifteen minutes away. Shri Mani had been living with great difficulty and she along with her family was overjoyed to hear that she would receive a second chance to sight and life at the Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation’s microsurgical camp.
The medical team went on to identify several other cases of cataract blindness – and everyone was invited to visit the camp. A medical team led by the Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation’s co-founder Dr Sanduk Ruit arrived at the community eye centre to assist in the cure of cataract blindness. Over the next three days, Dr Sanduk Ruit and Dr Sagar Ruit assisted by many local eye healthcare workers and volunteers conducted over 170 cataract surgeries.
The patients, all from different walks of life and from varying age groups were cured for free. Another patient, Bipana, was amongst those who had been cured. Being one of the youngest to be treated, Bipana was only a fourteen-years old. After struggling at school for some time, she received a second chance at life. She and her father no longer had to worry that she would not receive an education due to her lack of sight.
The schools in the remote Himalayan outback do not have provisions and resources for the visually impaired. If not treated, many other children such as Bipana would have been completely blind, unable to work and dependent on her family members. This often leads to a life of poverty, hopelessness and despair.
Since the visit to Solukhuma, the Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation has gone on to cure thousands more of needless blindness in Nepal and has also moved into new areas such as Ghana and Bhutan. With the achievements so far, it is no doubt that the journey to a better future will continue.
The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation is a restricted fund operating under the auspices of Prism The Gift Fund, registered UK charity number 1099682.