Anyone can gift a stylish outfit, a branded bag, or a brand-new phone, but not everyone can gift vision. Little do we realize that we are living in a world where blindness has been an integral yet the most undermined issue. There are around 50 million cases of blindness worldwide. While the dominant worldview declares blindness to be incurable, much to the surprise of many, it can be cured. We are talking about blindness that is caused by cataracts.

A cataract is an ophthalmological condition of the clouding of the lens. This clouding obstructs light to pass through the eyes, ultimately causing blindness in people. Apart from believing that blindness cannot be cured, some people also believe that surgeries and medical treatment fall on the higher end of the price line. Surprisingly, the surgery can cost as low as 50$.

Even when after the affordability of the treatment, most people fail to avail the best treatments due to a lack of funds. Blindness has been a dominant issue mostly in the economically backward regions of the world. Neither do they have access to quality medical treatments they can depend on, nor do they have the availability of funds.

Solving both these issues, the Billionaire Philanthropist Mr Tej Kohli and Ophthalmologist Dr Sanduk Ruit have founded the Tej Kohli-Ruit foundation.

The aim of the foundation is to cure blindness in the economically backward sections of the world to give people the gift of vision. Having embarked on this mission, the foundation has screened over 1,49,568 patients and cured 18,465 people of blindness.

Here’s a Journey and the recent achievements of the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation:

• They are creating a legacy of social and economic change. The foundation is striving to screen over 1 million people, and cure half a million people of blindness by 2026.
• The foundation’s microsurgical camps have extended to numerous countries such as Nepal, India, Indonesia, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, North Korea, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Lebanon and Syria.
• The foundation has seen huge success in Nepal particularly; wherein they have set up microsurgical camps in the districts of Solukhumbu, Lumbini, and Dorambu.
• Tej-Ruit foundation has partnered with 8 hospitals to ensure proper access to the best medical treatment in the country.
• The foundation has also collaborated with the Evening Standard to share stories and raise awareness about blindness and the foundation’s mission of eliminating blindness from the world.
• Based on the sample size of 6000 people from multiple outreach camps, 62% of the people that the foundation has helped belonged to the age group of 60-70. 56.4% of the people were females.
• We have set up 52 outreach camps until now, where we provided free treatments to the needless blind.

Even though the achievements have been many, it’s still a long journey for the Tej-Ruit foundation. Blindness does not only affect the lives of the blind but also the surrounding family members. Blindness cannot only impact the earning capabilities of the patients but of those people who are forced to leave their paid jobs to take care of their blind loved ones.

By curing needless blindness, we strive to change the lives of not only those who have suffered blackness but also the ones who have sacrificed a lot to tend to their loved ones.

Vision is a gift; if someone is devoid of it, then it’s them who deserves the gift more than anybody else.