Around 170,000 people in Nepal are blind, with cataract accounting for at least 70% of cases. Each year an additional 30,000 people become cataract blind.

There are 150 ophthalmologists in Nepal, or around one ophthalmologist per 189,000 people. However, around half of these ophthalmologists are located in the urban areas of Nepal - despite the fact that more than 90% of Nepal's blind population live in rural areas.

The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia has been working in Nepal with the internationally renowned Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology - TIO (formerly Tilganga Eye Centre) since 1994 to treat and prevent cataract blindness. The Foundation's Nepal Eye Program is also supported by The Fred Hollows Foundation United Kingdom.

The partnership's groundbreaking work has built facilities, trained staff and implemented programs that are making a real difference, but our work is far from complete, and only a sustained commitment will overcome the challenges we face.

Find out more about the Nepal program.

Through our program work in Nepal:

• Over 10,647 cataract surgeries were conducted at TIO and through outreach mobile eye clinics - operating in some of the world's most remote regions
  
  
• 152,268 patients walked through the doors of TIO to receive eye care
  
  
• New facilities at TIO significantly increase its capacity to provide quality blindness prevention services to the people of Nepal (and is becoming one of Asia's leading eye care training centres)
  
  
• Over 48,226 patients from rural areas of Nepal received eye care at Community Eye Centres supported by The Foundation  
  
  
• More than 120 personnel received training in eye care, including surgeons, nurses and community health workers.

Dr Sanduk Ruit, a highly skilled and respected surgeon in Nepal, had a special friendship with Fred Hollows and they both shared the same outlook on life, medical philosophies and vision - of a world where no one is needlessly blind. Both men were driven to overcome the obstacles of providing high quality eye care to people in Nepal.  

As Medical Director at TIO, Dr Ruit continues to be recognised as one of the giants of world ophthalmology - having restored sight to around 100,000 people alone, and trained thousands of eye health workers from around the world.