HCP Advisory Board Member Dr. David Chang was welcomed as the next President of ASCRS. He is seen on the left of this image [PDF, 630Kb], with Dr. Reinstein on the right.

Congratulations to Dr. Olson and to Dr. Chang!

The article, “Nepal's ‘magic’ surgeon brings light back to poor,” describes how Dr. Ruit has “developed a simple surgical technique involving little equipment and instruments that can be used manually. No stitches are needed, and the technique can be used on a simple table in field camps.”

“Low cost acrylic lenses — called intraocular lenses — are produced at the center's laboratory by workers wearing bio-safe masks, helping bring the cost down to $4 per lens from more than $100 apiece for the imported kind used previously.”

In the feature story, Dr. Ruit recalled how he was moved by a woman who had given birth to a baby boy when she was blind, but saw her son for the first time when he was 4 years old after surgery in a field camp in eastern Nepal. “She looked at the child for a few moments, then jumped to grab him, wept tears of joy and began kissing him,” Ruit said, eyes glinting with emotion. “I was totally moved by the expression of her face. This is the power of such a simple surgical intervention.”

Read the full Reuters article online here.

At the meeting, Dr. Ruit delivered a lecture titled “Global Perspective of cataract blindness: Our experience of quality cataract surgery in community.” Read more about the event and Dr. Ruit’s award  [PDF, 1.7Mb].

In conjunction with the soft opening, the Ghana Ophthalmology Society will meet in Kumasi with guests from HCP, the Moran Eye Center and other NGOs working toward improving eye care in Ghana and throughout west Africa.

Read more about HCP and the surgical eye center at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Ghana.

As of May 10, the team had completed 1,108 surgeries and was wrapping up.

In Dr. Geoff Tabin’s words, “Our patients have been incredibly joyous with phenomenal reactions. We also have a film crew and the scenes have been amazing with hundreds of patients ululating every morning at post op and shedding tears of joy.”

The HCP is working with the RAND Corporation to assess the costs of blindness and the economic impact of cataract surgery. The two- to three-year study centers around this surgical intervention. The patients as well as a control group with inoperable cataract or other inoperable conditions will be followed for over a year to measure the effect of the sight restoration.

The sounds during the post-operative exams sound similar to those heard in this video from Mekelle, Ethiopia, in May 2011.

Read the interview and see a few of his images here.

Read more about Humanitarian Laser in the local Nepali papers: Kathmandu Post &Republica [PDF, 2Mb].

In the photo above, Mrs. Krishna Tamarkar, Master of Ceremonies, addresses the crowd. HCP Co-Director Dr. Tabin and Tilganga’s Dr. Kishore are in the background. Seated in the first row (left to right): Dr. Dan Reinstein (London Vision Clinic Foundation); Ms. Sanda Steimer, Director, USAID; Mr. Shurid Ghimire, Chairman, Nepal Eye Program; Ms. Susan Grace, the Australian Ambassador.

HCP Co-Director Dr. Geoff Tabin attended the RSU Opening, thanking USAID/ASHA for its support developing the renovations to the old building to accommodate the new state of the art facility. Prior to the Opening, Dr. Tabin spent a week teaching corneal and cataract surgery in the Far West Region of Nepal at Geta Eye Hospital alongside HCP Partner Dr. Bidhya Pant, Geta’s Medical Director. Geta Eye Hospital is one of the highest volume cataract surgery centers in the Far West Region and neighboring Northern India, providing more than 30,000 surgeries annually. Remote villages of the hilly districts are quite far away, and it takes one to five days to walk from the nearest road. During his stay at Geta, Dr. Tabin performed more than 100 cataract operations in one day — a new personal best.  

Since 2000, HCP has supported sub-specialty training for eight Bhutanese ophthalmologists and dozens of paramedical staff in addition to providing over 7,000 sight-restoring eye surgeries and distributing over 10,000 pairs of reading glasses as part of an ongoing partnership with the Royal Government of Bhutan. HCP just provided Dr. Bhim Rai, Bhutan’s first vitreo-retina specialist who finished a 15-month fellowship in December, with specialized equipment for the new vitreo-retina practice at the National Hospital in Thimpu.

HCP has received a commitment for over $600,000 in additional support from USAID/ASHA for ophthalmic equipment and furniture for the new eye center.