A team
of leading ophthalmologists will again travel to a remote region of Nepal to
tend to the eye care needs of over 1,500 remote villagers in the Upper Gorkha region,
near the epicenter of the massive earthquakes and aftershocks in 2015.
The
team, assembled by Scott Hamilton, president of Dooley Intermed International,
New York, will depart in early December on a two-week
mission co-sponsored by members of the elite Operation Restore Vision
team of Operation International, Southhampton, N.Y.
Nepal’s
Pema Ts’al Sakya Monastic Institute will again provide senior monks to serve as
Eye Camp assistants and interpreters. They are trilingual and can speak
English, Nepali, and Tibetan. (Photo courtesy DooleyIntermed.org)
The
expedition is focused in the general roadless region of the approach trek to
Mt. Manaslu. The team will trek in while transporting equipment using a mule
caravan.
The
doctors, in cooperation with the Himalaya Eye Hospital, will provide eye
examinations, refractions, and perform sight-restoring surgery on those blinded
by cataracts. Cataract surgery is one of the most cost-effective and gratifying
surgical procedures in medicine since patients are “cured” overnight, often
with full restoration of their eyesight.
In 2013,
members of the same team restored vision to dozens of villagers in Nepal’s
Lower Mustang region, while providing quality eye care and refractive services
to over 700 individuals.The team will
also attend the grand opening of a new Eye Hospital in Bhakundebesi Village, in
the Kavre District of Nepal. The construction of the new facility has
been sponsored by Dooley Intermed and Operation International.
Patients will receive needed eye care, including surgeries, regardless of
ability to pay.
This
area has a population of over 600,000 and is currently without a dedicated eye
care facility. The new satellite eye hospital facility will soon be performing
essential ophthalmic services including comprehensive ophthalmic examinations,
refractions and treatment. The facility will include an optical dispensary and
pharmacy, enabling comprehensive treatment of many common eye and vision
problems.
“This
new facility will provide vital eye care to a very large marginalized
population of men, women and children, year after year, serving an area in
great need,” Hamilton says.
After
the Eye Hospital inauguration ceremony, the “Gift of Sight” doctors and staff
will proceed by vehicle for a site inspection of the Dooley Intermed-sponsored
Orphanage Eco-Home and “Milk For Kids” program, and new Community Health Clinic
in the Saankhu Sharada Valley, before returning to Kathmandu.
Jeff
Blumenfeld, editor of Expedition News, will again return as the expedition
team’s in-the-field Director of Communications. Watch this space for a recap
early next year.
See the 9-min.
documentary of the 2013 Gift of Sight Expedition here:
Learn
more about the work of Dooley Intermed at:
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