Coming out of the dark

March 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Live To Love Foundation for the second time teamed up with Druk White Lotus Clinic led by His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa and Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Nepal, co-founded by Dr. Sanduk Ruit and organized an eye camp from 9th March-12th March 2011.
After examining more than 2,000 villagers in remote locations in Kathmandu valley, around 200 people were treated for free cataract surgery during the 4-day eye camp by an able team of 11 doctors and assistants across the globe. Tilganga specialists performed the surgery and the Druk White Lotus school provided the cutting edge facilities, support, accommodation and meals during hospitalization .
“Every tenth person has cataract in the Himalayan region and keeping this in mind we thought it would be great if we help the people in need so that they can see this beautiful world again. This time we had a good number of people joining the camp. I am glad that the local communities have supported this initiative and this encourages us to plan more such eye camps. I am looking forward to the next eye camp to be held in Ladakh during our Third Annual Drukpa Council summit,” said His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa on completion of the eye camp.  

Last year also the charitable eye camp was organized in such a way that poor and needy people living in and around Kathmandu valley were assessed for suitability for eye treatment, those needing treatment underwent specialist surgery for the treatment of cataracts.
In the five days camp, the eye surgeons conducted cataracts removal eye surgery, restoring eyesight to over 300 patients from the most remote regions of Nepal. The blindness situation is dire in developing countries such as Nepal. As many as 50% of the avoidable blindness is caused by cataract. The per capita income of an average Nepalese is around Rs, 49,907 (2008 estimate) and 42% of the population live below poverty line. Most people with impaired vision cannot afford a cataract surgery, which on average costs about Rs 148,768 per eye.
With the collaboration with Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology and a more experienced team of volunteers at the Druk White Lotus Clinic, together with a better equipped set of facilities made possible through excess funds raised during the 1st Eye Camp in March 2010, the cost of each surgery for every pair of eyes for the 2nd Eye Camp is now reduced significantly to Rs 6,805 and the target number of patients this time is 200.