They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.<
Many
patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra
where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon
Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.
The
patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating
donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets.
Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their
bandages were removed.
"I've
been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing,
65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's
farm, but I couldn't work anymore."
Indonesia
has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a
target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world
holding free mass eye camps
while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he
pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care
is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors
how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can
be reduced worldwide.
Cataracts
are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million
people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health
Organization.
"We get only
one life, and that life is very short." said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."
During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
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