Achievements

The most notable achievement of The Fred Hollows Foundation’s work in Nepal has been its support of Tilganga Eye Centre. Since the Centre was opened in 1994: 

• Around 1.5 million people have been screened and more than 74,000 operations performed, through activities at the Surgicentre and Community Eye Centres (CECs). Cataract operations account for the majority of these procedures.
• Six CECs have been established which provide basic eye care services to rural populations in Dhading, Makwanapur, Nuwakot, Ramechap, Solu and Sindhupalchoku. The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia supports three of these CECs and The Fred Hollows Foundation United Kingdom supports a CEC in Okhaldhunga.
• The laboratory has produced more than 1.8 million IOLs and is producing 17,000 lenses per month which are sold to more than 40 countries.
• The laboratory has developed local skills in engineering, manufacturing, research and development, marketing, management, quality assurance, packaging, distribution and clinical trials. This has empowered local people and provided important local employment opportunities for approximately 70 people.
• The Nepal Eye Bank has harvested 1,855 corneas, of which more than one thousand have been transplanted at Tilganga. Around 500 corneas have been sent to other eye centres within Nepal and approximately 50 corneas have been exported for use in other countries.
• Tilganga has been instrumental in human resource development, with 139 surgeons trained as well as 73 paramedical staff and seven administrative staff.
• The Surgicentre has also become an important research centre and in 1996 a new sutureless surgical technique was pioneered at Tilganga. This technique does not require the use of expensive ophthalmic sutures and reduces the likelihood of post-operative complications.
• A new IOL design was also developed to match the needs of sutureless operations. Known as the FH105, the IOL - which is smaller in diameter than other IOLs - fits snugly into the eye through a smaller incision.
• In 2001 a further refinement was made to the sutureless technique, called 'temporal' section, which makes an incision on the side of the eye, rather than the top. This helps with improving the recovery of vision.
• Tilganga Eye Centre has established a model of multi-tiered pricing for its eye care services whereby those who can afford to pay do so and subsidise the poor. At the Centre the average cost of a cataract operation, including the introcular lens, is US$12. Around 45% of patients pay US$120 for full service, 25% pay less and the rest receive free cataract surgery.

The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia provided the following support in 2006:

• Funding for Community Eye Centres in Dhading, Nuwakot and Sindhupalchoku
• Funding for Tilganga Eye Centre's hospital extension
• Research funding for the Fred Hollows IOL Laboratory
• Training support for Tilganga Eye Centre staff, primary health care workers and school teachers
• Support of a Sutureless Small Incision Cataract Surgery (SSICS) Study by Tilganga Eye Centre. The pilot study was a randomised, masked, equivalence clinical trial of the safety and efficacy of SSICS vs Phacoemulsification for removal of cataract in a developing country context