This project ran from 9th – 13th Oct 2009 during which a surgical team
of 9 staff led by Dr Raba Thapa and Dr Chandani Pradhan performed
surgical operations and examined patients in Tatopani, Sindhu district.
Project overview
Tatopani village is one of the remote places of Sindhu District near the border between Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region (China). It is a hilly village and the majority of the people living in the area are poor and have no access to health facilities.
The outreach department of Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology coordinated an Outreach Micro-surgical Eye Clinic in partnership with Sindhu Community Eye Centre. This project brings affordable eye health resources to patients in this region.
- Screening camps were conducted in two different areas; patients were screened for cataract and other eye disease
- Refractive error, presbyopia correction and simple eye alignments were arranged for patients not requiring surgery
- Cataract patients were identified and re-examined before surgery so that their visual acuity would increase after sur- gery
The local school building rooms were prepared and set-up for necessary surgery
- After surgery patients were kept for 2 days for observation and treatment at the school
- Patients received post-operative checks within 4 weeks of their surgery
Project Outcomes and Challenges
A total of 1,522 people received eye health screening tests. The Fred Hollows Foundation provided sight restoring surgery to a total of 96 patients of which 89% were over 60 years old.
Although there were harsh conditions given the challenging and remote location, the surgical team delivered and performed the surgeries effectively.
Future of this Project:
The Fred Hollows Foundation will continue to work with the local team at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology to identify remote areas in Nepal where patients will need eye care and organise eye camps to conduct surgeries to treat patients with cataract. We will return for future eye camps at Sindhu, in our effort to end avoidable blindness.
This project will fund an Outreach Microsurgical Eye Camp where patients living in remote areas of Sindhu district, Nepal will have access to screening and surgical procedures, plus support for the Sindhu Community Eye Centre.
Project costs include:
-
Fund an Outreach Microsurgical Eye Centre organised by the Sindhu
CEC (including medical equipment & supplies, salaries, travel,
catering, accommodation)
- Contribute to the annual cost of running the Sindhu Community Eye
Centre. Costs include provision of medicines, office equipment,
salaries (2 ophthalmic nurses and one general assistant), travel and
maintenance
Project objective:
To fund an Outreach Microsurgical Eye Camp (OMEC) organised by the Sindhu Community Eye
Centre, which provides eye health
services to some of the most remote communities of Nepal. The OMEC is
scheduled to take place in September 2009. In 2008 alone, the Sindhu CEC helped 4,295 patients.
Funding will also contribute to the costs associated with running the
Sindhu Community Eye Centre which itself provides quality and
affordable eye care services to people of the district.
Project outcome:
The Fred Hollows Foundation will provide quality eye care to hundreds of rural poor in the Sindhu District – people who are suffering from avoidable blindness conditions but have no access to basic eye care facilities. These people, old and young, will be able to return to work or school once their sight has been restored.
Project Location:
Sindhu district is one of 75 districts in Nepal and is situated in central Nepal. Sindhu is located south-west of Kathmandu and is home to around 280,000 people, most of whom are farmers.
Background & Project Partners:
The Fred Hollows Foundation has sustained its commitment to Nepal since the Tilganga Eye Centre was opened in 1994. It was the first outpatient cataract surgery centre in Nepal and has expanded its capacity and services ever since.
Over the past 15 years, the partnership between The Fred Hollows Foundation and Tilganga has led to:
- Over 1.5 million people being screened and over 74,000 sight restoring operations being performed in Nepal
- 6 community centres have been established in remote parts of Nepal: Dhading, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Sindhu, Rolpa and Okhaldhunga
- At least 10 outreach clinics are run by Tilganga each year
- The Intraocular Lens factory at Tilganga is now a self-sufficient business and has manufactured over 3 million lenses, exporting to over 50 countries worldwide
- 139 surgeons and 73 paramedical staff have been trained at Tilganga
But our work is far from complete and only a sustained commitment will overcome the challenges we face. In Nepal, it is estimated:
- 460,000 people have low vision
- 210,000 people are blind
- 25,000 people become blind each year
- Approx 150,000 cases of blindness are due to cataract
The Government of Nepal recognises the significance of Community Eye Centres and has committed to serving each district of Nepal with a CEC by the year 2020.