An ophthalmologist from Utah who at the same time is an avid mountaineer climbed Mount Everest in 2005 to cure blindness in Nepal. Around 22 million people worldwide are affected by cataract blindness and majorities are those from developing nations.
Dr. Geoff Tabin, a professor at the University of Utah co-founded the Himalayan Cataract Project with a Nepalese partner, Dr. Sanduk Ruit in 1995. Their mission is to train local doctors to perform cataract surgery and establish a self sustaining eye care network. The project led to the Sight to Summit expedition last year.
World class mountaineers who include Conrad Anker and seven-time Everest summiter Pete Athens climbed the Himalayas for two weeks and assist doctors performed 275 cataract surgeries with an eleven day ascent of 6,500 meter Cholatse in the Khumbu region. One hundred-fifty thousand cataract surgeries were performed - 15 times more than in 1994 and, for the first time, more than the number of new cases of cataract blindness.
Basics & Backgrounds
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