Dr. Sanduk Ruit Featured in “99 best things that happened in 2017”

Dr. Sanduk Ruit, an award-winning Nepali eye surgeon, has been featured on a list of 99 best things that happened in 2017 by United States’ Quartz magazine. The list published on January 1 features positive stories reported in different International news like CBS, Reuters, Time, Stat, NBC and many others.

Dr. Sanduk Ruit, the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award winner whose small-incision cataract surgery, which utilizes inexpensive intraocular lenses, has enabled hundreds of thousands of poor cataract patients in Nepal and other countries to regain their sight.

Quartz said that Dr. Ruit and his colleague Geoff Tabin have helped restore the eye sight of 4 million people in two dozen countries, including North Korea and Ethiopia.

They were covered by CBS in a news article that described them as follows:

“The doctors were “gods” to an old, blind Burmese woman whose sight was restored by a quick operation.”

According to CBS, their revolutionary system goes beyond the surgery. They started a lens factory that produces implants for a fraction of the cost in the U.S. and they have a hospital in Nepal, Tilganga Eye Centre, that has trained hundreds of doctors and nurses in their technique. During their visit to Burma, they were able to perform more surgeries in three days than are usually done in a year.