Bob McMullan visits Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology

Mr McMullan spent over an hour touring the Institute which provides eye care in Kathmandu and outreach services into remote regions of Nepal.

Tilganga's Medical Director, Dr Sanduk Ruit, showed Mr McMullan how the Institute is providing training for surgical teams from counties such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sikkim, Tibet, Myanmar, northern India and DPR North Korea.

During the visit, Mr McMullan acknowledged the achievements of Tilganga and The Foundation in bringing eye care services to the people of Nepal and the impact this partnership is having on eye health internationally through its training programs.

Mr McMullan also said that the Australian Government is proud to have been involved in building the success story that is Tilganga, from its early beginnings in 1994.

Over 900 people line up outside Tilganga each day hoping to receive eye care. Tilganga's new Institute of Ophthalmology, which opened last year, has at least doubled the facility's capacity to provide eye health services to the people of Nepal.

These services spread well beyond Kathmandu into some of the most remote parts of Nepal where there are very limited health services.

The Fred Hollows Foundation's Nepal Eye Program's contribution to blindness treatment and prevention is a collaborative effort with the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology. Tilganga is independent from The Foundation and has partnerships with other non-government organisations.

The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia and The Fred Hollows Foundation United Kingdom are close partners of Tilganga and continue to provide funding for initiatives aimed at increasing the accessibility of eye care services to poor and remote communities in Nepal.

Led by Medical Director, Dr Sanduk Ruit, the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology (TIO) comprises:

1. A full service modern ophthalmic facility - delivering advanced eye care to patients.
2. An education and training department which runs an MD Residency Program in Ophthalmology, a Certificate of Health Science (Ophthalmology) and training for eye health workers.
3. An outreach unit which runs rural district community eye centres and microsurgical eye clinics for rural communities throughout Nepal. It also conducts similar efforts regularly in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, DPR Korea and India.
4. An eye bank for cornea transplants.
5. An Intraocular Lens laboratory which specialises in the production of world-class, state-of-the-art intraocular lenses (IOLs) for use in modern cataract surgery. The focus is always on uncompromised quality and affordability.
6. A research unit which coordinates clinical investigations and evaluates program strategy and delivery.
   

  Find out more about our Nepal program.