India and Sikkim Trip Reports

Report of the Tilganga Eye Centre
Himalayan Cataract Project

Mission to Rangpo, Sikkim

January 26 - February 6, 1998
by Geoff Tabin, M.D.

Our team consisted of Dr. Sanduk Ruit from the Tilganga Eye Centre, Dr. Geoffrey C. Tabin from the University of Vermont, and Dr. Dick Litwin from Berkley, California along with three technicians and two scrub nurses from the Tilganga Eye Centre, Andy Thompson, a medical student f rom New Zealand, and Dick Litwin's wife, Judith. We arrived in Rangpo, Sikkim, to find a very well-organized eye camp through the efforts of Dr. Pradhan and Dr. Dhakal, the only two ophthalmologists in Sikkim. The camp was held at a mining school which had been completely revamped for the eye camp. Plans had been made for over one year and extensive work was taken to clean, sterilize, and provide electricity for the school. An incredible effort was also made by Dr. D.B. Rai, a local general practitioner and three of his colleagues in general medicine. There was also a superb effort from over 40 volunteers who worked full-time, caring for, transporting, and, in general, helping the patients. These volunteers came primarily from two service groups: one of devotees of Maharaj G. Guru and one from the followers of the Sai Baba.

Our team of doctors screened nearly 1400 patients who came from all over Sikkim as well as other provinces in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Kalimpong. Three hundred and twenty eight eyes received cataract surgery with intraocular lens placement. The surgical results were fantastic with only one case of posterior capsular rupture and that eye received a well-fitted anterior chamber lens. There were no infections. It was a fantastic atmosphere. We witnessed the excitement of patients and families of people who had previously been totally blind. In addition to 328 successful surgeries, I am happy to report that the local doctors, Dr. Dhakal and Pradhan performed the first cataract surgery with intraocular lens placement performed with a microscope by a Sikkimese doctor. These two surgeons performed over 25 successful, sight restoring, cataract surgeries. By the end of the camp, they were operating extremely well. We have left a new microscope and all supplies necessary for them to continue with more than 100 additional cataract surgeries with intraocular lens placement.

In all, our trip to Sikkim was even more successful than our wildest expectations.