Nepal
As part of a surgical team put together by the Himalayan Cataract Project, doctors Matt Oliva and Paul Imperia spent two weeks in Nepal participating in cataract camps where over 300 surgeries were performed on underprivileged patients from rural Nepal. According to Dr. Oliva, “I first got interested in alleviating global blindness because one of my mentors founded the HCP. After my first trip, I was hooked. We are establishing centers of excellence for eyecare in the developing world including Ethiopia and Nepal, and are working in partnership with the UN, the UNDP, the Millennium Promise, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.”
The doctors also spent significant time at the Tilganga Eye Hospital in Kathmandu teaching ophthalmology residents, working with the eye bank, doing corneal surgery, and exchanging skills with the faculty. They also traveled to southern Nepal, to the Hetauda Eye Hospital, to teach modern phacoemulsification cataract surgery. Dr. Sanduk Ruit, the director of the Tilganga Eye Hospital and a pioneer in providing cataract surgery to the poor in Nepal, spent time with the doctors planning a future project to bring Lasik surgery to Nepal. Lasik could potentially have a large impact on visual impairment amongst poor, rural patients who have poor vision simply because they have no sustainable access to eyeglasses.
The Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) is establishing a sustainable eye care infrastructure in the Himalaya that empowers local doctors to provide high-quality ophthalmic care through skills-transfer and education. The HCP responds to a pressing need for eye care in the Himalayan region. Our programs in Nepal, Tibet, China, Bhutan, India, Sikkim, and Pakistan have restored sight to tens of thousands of blind people every year since 1994. For more information on HCP visit www.cureblindness.org
