I am happy to share that number of patients screened and people cured by the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation continued to grow this year.
By the middle of December 2021, the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation had cured over 5,335 and screened more than 63,257, figures we were elated about after only starting our journey in March 2021. One year down the line and our figures are colossal, now standing at 23,663 cured and more than 179,022 screened.
We have set up 91 microsurgical outreach camps across three countries. In Kalikot, we were especially proud of our teams achievement, as they cured 152 people of cataracts in only two days, November 12th and 13th. The effort required to organise, stage and perform something on this scale took hard work and long periods of travel, but we wouldn’t change a thing as the difference that surgery makes to peoples lives is incalculable.
We have continued to partner with community hospitals and we now have 11 partner hospitals in our network. We also work with 57 doctors in out network who continue to work with us in our joint effort to reduce the numbers of cataract blind in underprivileged areas.
As we have shared before, there is data that shows that someone who receives sight-saving cataract surgery can increase their economic productivity more than 1,500% the cost of their their surgery in the first post-operative year. This economic increase not only helps individuals and families achieve a higher standard of living, but also boosts the whole communities economy.
We are continuing to cure cases of cataract blindness in low-income areas and alongside our tangible work, we are improving awareness of cataracts amongst rural populations, increasing the accessibility of cataract surgery in these areas as well as making surgery more affordable for lower income areas. These three A’s are vital for moving forward in our foundations, and the wider, fight against cataract blindness as 90% of the world’s cataract blind live in low income areas. By focussing on these three A’s, we hope that 2023 is an even more successful year for the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation.
We also published our second documentary this year titled ‘Childhood Blindness And Extreme Poverty’, which can be watched here. The documentary short aimed to shed light on the relationship between childhood cataracts and extreme poverty, showcasing the importance of early intervention in treatable blindness.
None of the work we achieved this year could be possible without the strong and uniform effort from our team members. Everyone that works in and with the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation is united in their desire to help communties thrive by eliminating needless blindness and in turn, eradicate extreme poverty. I look forward to seeing what the following year brings for and the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation team.
