Dr. Sanduk Ruit
Medical Director, Tilganga Eye Centre
Kathmandu, Nepal
Dr. Sanduk Ruit is globally recognized for his tireless work in restoring eye-sight of millions of cataract patients in poor countries through safe, effective and economical eye surgery. Working in Nepal, Dr. Ruit introduces and further develops an effective suture-less operation technique that allows operations to be performed in large number of patients in remote locations. He plays a leadership role in the manufacturing of inexpensive high-quality intraocular lenses for this operation, costing 50 times less than the imported lenses. More than 1.5 millions pieces has been produced so far. Dr. Ruit establishes eye centers as well as mobile eye camps in Nepal and the Himalayan region particularly to treat patients with cataract. These mobile eye camps have expanded to other countries including China, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam and North Korea. His team also trains eye surgeons and healthcare personnel from various countries of this cost-effective and portable technique; together resulting in more than 35 millions operations around the world.
Cataract is the leading cause of blindness, 90% of the patients live in developing countries. The modern surgical technique to remove the cataract lens by phagoemulsifier equipment and then replace with a new lens (intraocular lens) is too expensive for most patients in poor countries. Dr. Ruit’s work on developing a new suture-less operation and the manufacturing of high quality, low-cost intraocular lens has restored eye-sights and prevented avoidable blindness in millions of patients.