Himalayan Cataract Project E-News: January 2011The Board and Staff of HCP would like to thank each individual, family, foundation, organization and government entity that provided support for our programs in 2010. We are most appreciative of your generosity and we look forward to working together in 2011!
This month’s newsletter includes:
- HCP’s far-reaching work is profiled in Eye World magazine
- HCP Co-founder Dr. Tabin travels to Tanzania
- HCP International Fellow Dr. Bujak arrives in Ghana
- “Night for African Sight” Fundraiser at Snowbird on February 26th
- HCP Fellow Dr. Bhim Bahadur Rai arrives at Tilganga
- Tilganga Resident training at Moran Eye Center
- Cataract Surgical Eye Camp in Lhasa Municipality
- HCP is an Affiliated Sponsor of the San Francisco Marathon
- Researcher climbs Kilimanjaro to raise money for HCP
- Medical tourism at Tilganga
HCP’s far-reaching work is profiled in Eye World magazineEye World, published by the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, wrote a profile on the Himalayan Cataract Project describing its successes in the Himalayas and its entrée into Sub-Saharan Africa.
Eye World’s Faith A. Hayden writes that many of HCP’s accomplishments are due to the infrastructure it has worked to implement:
“That's what HCP is really about — infrastructure, training, and education, not just fly-by visits in a vacuum. These doctors dig in, training local practitioners and leaving behind a legacy of cataract surgery excellence that continues to benefit the area well after the HCP team returns to their countries.”
To read the article, please visit the Eye World website. HCP Co-founder Dr. Tabin travels to TanzaniaDr. Geoff Tabin traveled to Tanzania in January to collaborate with Cornell-Weill's international program, work with local doctors to improve cornea transplant surgery, and meet with the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology (KCCO) to begin planning for our Millennium Village Project assessment and intervention in Mbola later in the year. The KCCO was established in Moshi, Tanzania, in late 2001 and is dedicated to the elimination of avoidable blindness through programs, training, and research focusing on the delivery of sustainable and replicable community ophthalmology services. HCP International Fellow Dr. Bujak arrives in Ghana | | 
Patients await screening at cataract workshop in rural district hospital in Ghana.
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Dr. Matt Bujak arrived in Ghana earlier this month for a six-week visit at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) to work in the eye clinic with KATH Ophthalmologists and residents including Drs. Seth Lartey and Peter Armah, who recently returned from sub-specialty training in Utah. Within the first week, Drs. Bujak and Lartey performed seven successful cornea transplants and participated in an outreach clinic in a rural district hospital screening over 50 patients and performing 20 cataract surgeries.
Dr. Bujak shares this story of a cornea patient: | | 
Arthur, a 26-year-old cornea patient from Kumasi, Ghana.
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“Arthur is a 26-year-old student studying in Kumasi, Ghana, with severe longstanding ocular allergies. Despite going to many herbalists around the country his vision was getting worse. He opted for surgery because he did not want his vision to affect his education. He had a DALK surgery where a cornea tissue was used to replace his diseased cornea while the healthy inner lining of his own cornea was preserved. Even on his first post-operative day he was seeing 20/150 - better than his preoperative vision. He has returned to school and is very excited about the prospect of his vision improving even more. With this partial layer transplant he is very unlikely to have a rejection and thus the transplant should last for many years to come.” The live tissue was provided by SightLife, one of the leading eye banks in the world dedicated to ending cornea blindness through eye banking and HCP’s partner in strengthening cornea eye banking in Nepal. “Night for African Sight” Fundraiser at Snowbird on February 26thThe John A. Moran Eye Center, in partnership with the Himalayan Cataract Project, will present “Night for African Sight” on Saturday, February 26, 2011, hosted by Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. The 2011 dinner and auction event will feature three highly accomplished mountaineers: Dr. Geoff Tabin and his sometime climbing partners Neal Beidleman and Timmy O'Neill. More information is available at the Moran Eye Center website. Tilganga Resident training at Moran Eye CenterAmina Rai, a third-year resident from the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, arrived at the Moran Eye Center for Observerships in neuro-ophthalmology and medical retina.
“So far the learning experience has been extremely enriching and fruitful. The doctors are really good and I’m impressed with their friendly behavior and approach towards their patients. I hope to carry the good things I learn from here to my place and apply it to the best of my ability.” —Amina Rai | |
Cataract Surgical Eye Camp in Lhasa MunicipalityIn late December an eye care team from the HCP-supported Lhasa Institute of Eye Care (LIEC) worked with the Datse County Lhasa Municipality People’s Hospital screening 170 patients and performing 50 cataract surgeries in two days, in addition to providing eye health education information through LIEC posters.
HCP works closely with The Lhasa Institute of Eye Care and helped establish the center in 2005. Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People’s Republic of China. The Institute serves the Lhasa region as well as the outlying area through outreach work and serves as an important training site for the region. HCP Fellow Dr. Bhim Bahadur Rai arrives at Tilganga Dr. Rai, Bhutan’s first trained vitreo-retina surgeon, has arrived in Nepal for continued sub-specialty training at the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology after recently completing a three-month fellowship at the Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City.
“My surgical retina training is going on very well. The hospital is very good. My mentors are very good, patient load is very good, a very good place for my hands-on training. I am hoping to get a lot of surgical exposure.” —Dr. Bhim Bahadur Rai
HCP continues to support the Royal Government of Bhutan and recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary of working together by signing its third five-year agreement. HCP is an Affiliated Sponsor of the San Francisco Marathon | HCP has become a charity sponsor of the San Francisco Marathon to raise awareness of preventable blindness in the developing world, and is currently recruiting runners interested in joining our team. Full and half marathon slots are available. If you are interested, please email HCP Project Manager Pam Clapp at pclapp@[remove this text]cureblindness.org. |
Researcher climbs Kilimanjaro to raise money for HCP | Andy Doraiswamy, Senior Research & Development Manager from Advanced Vision Science, a California-based medical device company specializing in the research, development and manufacturing of intraocular lenses and lens materials, is raising money for HCP by climbing the world’s seven highest peaks.
Read more at www.summitforcure.org/cause.html. Thanks, Andy! |
Medical tourism at TilgangaThe opinion page of Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald describes a contributor’s experience of going to Nepal’s Tilganga Eye Centre for surgery. To read the article, visit the Sydney Morning Herald website.
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Eye patients in Ethiopia.
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The Himalayan Cataract Project works to eradicate preventable and curable blindness through high quality ophthalmic care, education and the establishment of a world-class eye care infrastructure.
Please visit our Web site at www.cureblindness.org to keep up with the latest HCP news. There you will also find information on HCP’s finances, its founders, staff and board members, and ways that you can give the gift of sight.
Remember, through the Himalayan Cataract Project it takes a gift of only $20 to provide life-changing cataract surgery to someone struggling with blindness in the developing world. |
