Sanduk Ruit

2006 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Peace and International Understanding from Nepal. Born in Nepal, Dr. Sanduk Ruit completed his medical training in India and returned to his country as a government health officer. Specializing in ophthalmology, he learned from his mentor Dr. Fred Hollows the latest cataract micro-surgery techniques using implanted intraocular lenses. By 1988 Ruit was patiently teaching the new techniques to Nepalese eye surgeons. Winning converts, he began trekking to Nepal's far-flung towns to conduct eye camps, on-the-spot surgeries in which he almost instantly restored the sight of grateful country folk, hundreds at a time. He opened the Tilganga Eye Centre (TEC) in 1994, providing an integrated system of ophthalmologic services: TEC manages six regional eye-care centers and trains their workers; it also trains other Asian doctors and nurses, now numbering over 500; it manufactures low-cost, state-of-the-art implant lenses, exporting them to fifty countries. Today, Ruit's eye camps and his sight-restoring techniques have expanded to China, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and North Korea.