Around 185,000 people in Nepal are blind, with cataract accounting for at least 70% of cases. Each year an additional 25,000 people become cataract blind.
There are 116 ophthalmologists in Nepal, or around one ophthalmologist per 215,000 people, but around half of these ophthalmologists are located in the urban areas of Nepal - despite the fact that more than 90% of Nepal's blind population live in rural areas.
The Foundation in Australia has been working in Nepal with the internationally renowned Tilganga Eye Centre since 1994 to treat and prevent cataract blindness.
The Foundation's Nepal Eye Program is also supported by The Fred Hollows Foundation United Kingdom.
Tilganga Eye Centre (incorporating The Fred Hollows IOL Laboratory )
Address: Bagmati Pul, Gaushala, Kathmandu, Nepal
Postal Address: PO Box 561, Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone: + 977 1447 4685 or + 977 1449 3775
Fax: + 977 1447 4685
Email: nepal@hollows.org
Website: www.tilganga.org
Read the story of Hari and Mina who were both bilaterally blind from cataracts.
Less than five months after Dr Sanduk Ruit, was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, also known as Asia's Nobel Prize, Reader's Digest also named Dr Sanduk Ruit as Asian of the Year for 2007.