Dr Sanduk Ruit – Ophthalmologist

Sanduk Ruit  is an ophthalmologist (eye surgeon) from Nepal who has restored the sight of over 180,000 people across Africa and Asia using small-incision cataract surgery.

Ruit 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.

Ruit has been referred to as the “God of Sights”. 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, enabling the needlessly blind in even the poorest countries to see again.” He was awarded with the Isa award, the highest civilian award in Bahrain by the king of Bahrain for developing highly affordable and sustainable ways to cure cataracts throughout the developing world with a cash prize of 1 million dollars.