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By Shristi Kafle
38-year-old Krishna Bahadur Majhi from Sindhupalchowk district in Nepal used to work as a daily wage labor in construction sites. His life was normal, having a homemaker wife and three sons engaged in both studies and works. However, in 2021, his life was completely changed after he lost sight in both his eyes due to diabetes.
Majhi's life was transformed from an active household head, the family bread-winner, to a helpless blind person who needed the support of his wife Rita Majhi and a stick all the time.
After having spent a year in darkness, Majhi's happiness knew no bounds after he could see the world again following a cataract surgery in a free eye camp on March in neighboring district Ramechhap, all thanks to Dr Sanduk Ruit's magical hands.
"When there was no eye sight, there was no world, no life. Now, everything seems beautiful. Its like a fresh morning, a new beginning. I am grateful to see again," Majhi shared his excitement after the bandages on his both eyes were removed a day after the surgery.
Krishna Bahadur Majhi was among 333 people whose eye sight was restored from March 17 to 20 in a camp called Doramba Outreach Micro Surgical Eye Clinic. They were screened from different municipalities and rural municipalities of Ramechhap, Dolakha and even from Sindhupalchowk district.
The clinic was organized at Shree Kakling Secondary School in Doramba of Ramechhap by Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology (TIO). The camp resembled a fair with patients and their caretakers, many of whom have never reached Kathmandu due to poor family conditions.
For the ones with cataract issues or visually impaired or blind people from remote and underprivileged communities, such free eye camp has turned into a life-saving fair.
"I went to the capital city few times and spent around Rs 250,000 for treatment in hospitals, but it all went into vain, only with the piling of load burden. For poor like us, the free eye camp is the only option," Majhi shared while getting back to home after the successful surgery.
People whose cataracts were removed all danced in joys, some cried, some embraced their family members, some laughed, in the playground of the school after their bandages were removed by the doctors.
In the forefront stood Dr Sanduk Ruit, the major figure behind the eye camp, also known as 'God of Eye Sight', checking the vision of restored sights and providing needed suggestions.
Dr Ruit also became emotional for a while with the expressions of those whose cataracts were removed by him and his son Dr Sagar Ruit in a small classroom-turned-surgery room. The overall process took 7 minutes in an average for him to make a tiny incision in any patients' eye, pull out the cataract and insert a new lens in the eye.
"If we could do such eye camp in Doramba, given the remoteness, social or economic and political conditions, we can replicate the model anywhere in the world. This is an example of South-to-South cooperation model," Dr Ruit said.
Out of 120 million people across the globe with some sort of blindness, only 30 million go through surgery every year, that too only in extremely developed world.
According to Dr Ruit, in developing countries, major problems for cataract surgeries revolve around accessibility, affordability and technical capability. "In Nepal, it can be done in a simple way, without compromising the quality. Nepal is at the forefront of the world in doing this."
Nepal is the first country in the sub-continent which has launched the high-quality lens based on philanthropic model, he informed, adding that it will be taken to a commercial level in the future. "Its beauty is all the proceeds will be given back to the community for free of cost."
The similar cataract surgery can cost up to 5000 US dollars in the west, like in New York and Sydney, which is being done for free in eye camps, and in minimal cost of around 50 dollars in Tilganga Institute. It has been possible as Tilganga manufactures intraocular lenses, which costs less than 4USD as lens compared to 250USD in the West.
These locally produced lenses are exported to more than 70 countries at present. So far, six million lenses have been produced and used. "China is the biggest importer of lens produced in Nepal," the ophthalmologist informed.
In Nepal, Tilganga regularly organizes free eye camps, up to even 45 camps, annually resulting to nearly 8,000 cataract surgeries. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic halted the regular surgeries in hospitals for a long time, eye-camps became timely-help for the needy post-lockdown.
67-year-old Dr Ruit, who has done around 140,000 cataract surgeries in his career so far, has done camps across the world including in many parts of China, as early as from 1990 in Tibet. The masterful surgeon doesn’t credit the magic of his hands, but regards technology as a boon to let people see clearly and sharply.
Now, he is on a mission to remove blindness from across the world for free, particularly in poor and undeserved communities. His noble drive will be supported by a British philanthropist Tej Kohli, who has established Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation.
The Foundation has a plan to cure cataract blindness of 300,000 to 500,000 people in 10 countries including Bhutan, India, Indonesia Cambodia, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Ghana among others. For this, it will screen around 1,000, 000 patients. In Nepal, it has already performed 12,000 cataract surgeries in last one year.
"I believe in doing good deeds...There is no other better charity than giving someone eyesight. Nepal is just a beginning," Kohli said after visiting the eye camp, adding that the model will be replicated in the world.
Kohli's support has boosted the confidence of Dr Ruit. The low-cost tested module is expected to reach as far as Africa to deliver top quality and high-volume output, as the surgeon is determined to help the poorest of the poor. "This is the last chapter of my life," Dr Ruit expressed.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
