Magsaysay Award goes to Nepali doctor that gives the gift of sight to the poor
Damak (AsiaNews) Dr Sanduk Ruit's patients are overjoyed; their doctor is one of this year's Magsaysay Award winners. The Nepali doctor can hardly believe it himself. He is actually going to get the same prize given to Mother Teresa even though, in his words, "I am simply a pigmy compared to her".
On Tuesday, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation released the names of this year's laureates. Its awards are considered the Asian equivalent of the Nobel prizes. Sanduk Ruit, a Nepali eye specialist, is among this year's recipients. He is the founder of Kathmandu's Tilganga Eye Centre, a medical facility that treats the poor for their eye ailments.
"I would have gone totally blind, had Dr Ruit not saved my eyes three years ago," said Ratan Tamnag, 63, a Tilganga patient, when he heard about the award on the radio.
Mr Tamang told AsiaNews that at the time he could not afford the lenses he needed. He explained that "they cost 100 dollars. For five years I was forced to live without treatment despite doctors telling me I would go blind." But "then I heard that Dr Ruit's lenses cost only four dollars and so I came to his hospital. Now I can see. We are all proud that someone so great got the prize."
After he graduated from an Indian medical college in ophthalmology in 1984, Dr Ruit embarked on a quest for the cheapest way of treating the poor of Nepal. With this in mind, he set up the Tilganga Eye Centre.
His greatest merit is having developed low-cost lenses. More than 10,000 partially blind Nepalis have thus benefited from his work and kept their eyesight.
What is more Tilganga helps patients around the world because its intraocular lenses are exported to some 20 countries.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation gave him the Award for Peace and International Understanding, which Mother Teresa also received.
"For me it's an historic event, a special grace," the doctor said. "With this award I feel closer to Mother Teresa, although I am simply a pigmy compared to her."
"I truly hope that this recognition for the work I do to help the poor may help lift the spirits of the country, prostrated by 10 years of insurgency."
In motivating their choice, the board of trustees recognised "his placing Nepal at the forefront of developing safe, effective, and economical procedures for cataract surgery, enabling the needlessly blind in even the poorest countries to see again."
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31/08/2023 13:53
