It’s a busy Friday afternoon at the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology and the Deputy Medical Director, Dr Reeta Gurung, is steadily making her way through a room full of patients who have come to the centre for eye problems.
The patients
One elderly Nepali man appears to have a shingles infection. Dr Reeta orders a sample to be taken from the cornea to confirm the cause of infection.
The man's journey to
Kathmandu has taken three days. It involved catching two buses and walking for an entire day.
A young girl is brought in by her concerned parents. Her eyes are red and itchy. Dr Reeta explains that allergies in children are quite common and that the child’s eyes have probably been irritated by pollen in the air.
A middle aged woman is visibly upset as she sits before Dr Reeta. Something went into her eye about three weeks earlier and now she’s seeing white spots. Dr Reeta gazes through her ophthalmoscope and orders a specimen of her infected eye.
Dr Reeta's role at Tilganga
Dr Reeta expresses concern that the woman waited so long before attending Tilganga.
Dr Reeta is quick to assess each case. She needs to be. It’s now late afternoon and there’s still a steady stream of people waiting to see her.
All in a day’s work for The Foundation’s partner, who was recently presented with a prestigious Distinguished Service Award in Sydney by the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.
Tilganga is a leader in the field of ophthalmology and a training base for doctors around the world wanting to learn small incision
cataract surgery.
>Learn more about the
Nepal Program.