Himalayan Cataract Project: Eradicating Avoidable Blindness through Medical Innovation, Global Collaboration and Compassionate Capitalism
| Case Code: CSRS021 Case Length: 13 Pages Period: Pub Date: 2025 Teaching Note: Available |
Price: Rs.400 Organization: The Himalayan Cataract Project Cureblindness Industry: Healthcare and Services Countries: United States Themes: Healthcare, Social Enterprise |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
Excerpts
The Outreach Camps
Even before HCP was incorporated, Tilganga had conducted several outreach camps across Nepal. In order to take the services to people in the hinterlands who needed the means to reach Kathmandu, Ruit set up outreach camps. During these camps, he went to remote locations along with his team, screened patients, and performed surgeries. Once the team decided on the camp’s location, select staff members reached the place a few days before the scheduled date..
Expanding The Reach
HCP’s primary objective had always been to reach the largest number of underserved blind individuals, delivering top-tier care at minimal expense in Nepal and other countries in Asia and Africa, where more than half of the people were impacted by global blindness..
Success Stories
Several ophthalmologists became a part of HCP and rendered their services in conflict-ridden, poverty-struck countries. One such doctor was Dr Lloyd Williams, Director of Duke Global Ophthalmology, who had been associated with HCP for over a decade and rendered his services in several countries, including South Sudan. He was of the view that if a person’s blindness was cured, the economic situation of the whole family stood to improve, as those who were blind needed round-the-clock monitoring and care. Most of the time, it was children who were given the responsibility of taking care of their old grandparents. In the process, they were removed from school, and their education was discontinued, throwing them into a loop of abject poverty..
Impact
The Fred Hollows Intraocular Lens Laboratory had produced 5.6 million lenses (IOLs) since its inception till 2023. These were sold in more than 70 countries. Thus, HCP successfully reduced the cost of IOLs and cataract surgery in many countries worldwide. Ruit won the prestigious Roman Magsaysay Award in 2006 for bringing down the cost of IOLs from more than US$ 100 to US$ 5-6. Many governments recognized him and presented him with civilian honors. The Indian government awarded him its fourth highest civilian honor the ‘Padma Shri’ in 2018. People in Nepal who had had their sight restored started calling him ‘God of Sight’..
Exhibits
Exhibit I: The Burden of Blindness
Exhibit II: Geographical Distribution of Global Blindness
Exhibit III: HCP – Partners
Exhibit IV: Himalayan Cataract Project : Revenue and Expenses (in US$)
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