The Foundation has partnered with the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology to restore sight to 574 people during a four-day eye clinic in the Bardiya District of Nepal.

Over 1,670 people from the region received free eye examinations in the time leading up to the outreach camp. Those diagnosed with cataract and other blindness-causing conditions were referred for surgery at the camp in the town of Gulariya.
 
A team of three highly skilled eye surgeons operated in makeshift surgical theatres set up in public buildings to perform hundreds of operations - mostly to remove blinding cataracts.

Many of the people of Badiya District in western Nepal are from poorer, farming families. They cannot afford the two-day bus journey to get treatment at Tilganga, in Kathmandu. Outreach camps are therefore essential to reach many of an estimated 170,000 people living with blindness across the country.
With their eyes fixed, patients from Bardiya will once again be able to support themselves through farming, as well as perform daily tasks that many of us take for granted. This re-found independence will also have a ripple effect as family members are freed from their carer’s duties.

The Foundation has had a long history of working with the people of Nepal to build quality eye health services. Fred first visited Nepal in 1985 with plans to trek the Himalayas, however he never got to the mountains as his attention quickly turned to the state of the country’s eye health services. He began working closely with world renowned cataract surgeon, Dr Sanduk Ruit and together they planned the establishment of Tilganga.   
 
Over the years Tilganga has grown from strength to strength and these days is far more than an eye hospital which treats up to 600 patients a day. It provides outreach services to remote regions of Nepal and is home to an intraocular lens laboratory which manufactures affordable, high quality lenses for export all over the world. It has also become an important centre of learning for doctors, ophthalmic assistants and community health workers - not only from Nepal, but from countries all over the world.