Renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Sanduk Ruit has won the Isa Award which carries a purse of USD 1 million (which comes around Rs 130 million)
The Isa Award, which was established after the name of former Bahrain King Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, is presented to a person or an institute for their contribution to the field of human welfare across the world.
Dr. Sanduk Ruit is the winner of the fifth edition of the Isa Award.
Born to father Sonam Ruit and mother Kesang Ruit on September 4, 1954 in the remote mountainous village Olangchunggola bordering Tibet in Taplejung district of Nepal, Dr Ruit has restored the sight of over 180,000 people across Africa and Asia using small-incision cataract surgery.
He is the founder and the executive director of the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, which manufactures high-quality intraocular lenses for surgery at a fraction of the price of the previous manufacturing cost. The low cost has made cataract surgeries affordable to the world's poorest people.
Dubbed as the "God of Sight", he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding, considered to be the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for "placing Nepal at the forefront of developing safe, effective, and economical procedures for cataract surgery.
