The Himalayan Vision Project
During the 2009 dental/medical expedition led by Dr. Myra Elliott that traveled over the 19,000ft Kardong La Pass into the remote region of Nubra Valley of Ladakh a wide range of dental, vision and gastrointestinal maladies were diagnosed and treated by the team of 18 doctors and dentists.
One member of the team, ophthalmologist Dr. Marcus Ang examined well over 600 patients with vision problems and found a tragically high prevalence of untreated eye conditions among the high altitude population of Ladakh. Many were in simple need of prescription eyeglasses to correct severe short and long sightedness, but others were in desperate need of surgical care to treat their debilitating cataracts and other serious eye and vision complications.
Following up on Dr. Marcus Ang’s diagnostic efforts, The Himalayan Vision Project has implemented subsequent efforts to relieve those patients of their conditions. Over 200 of those examined were given precision measurements by a professional optometrist in the capital city of Leh and given their prescription glasses free of charge. The immediate and dramatic benefits of this program has inspired us to extend the offer to ANY person in Ladakh who requires prescription eyeglasses, but can not bear the costs, to come to Leh to be examined by the trained optometrist and their eyeglasses will be provided free of cost to the patient.
Surgical treatments for more serious vision problems
During the July 2010 dental / medical expedition to Nubra Valley, Dr. Marcus Ang diagnosed a young boy and even younger girl who were found to have Strabismus or “squint” condition that requires complex surgery. This severe misalignment of the eyes will lead to almost total debilitation without surgical correction. We are now making final preparations to fly them and their parents to Hyderabad, India where a renowned pediatric eye specialist, Dr. Ramesh Murthy, is willing to do the surgery. The cost of the operations and travel for these young people will be provided free of charge to the parents who can not possibly afford this treatment for their kids.
If these first cases are a success, then it will teach by example and hopefully break through some of the fear-by-ignorance and benign mistrust we sometimes encounter when modern technology and medical skill meets ancient tradition and belief. Many hundreds of local residents suffer from debilitating cataract conditions that can be alleviated to a great extent with proper surgical treatment.
We are trying to mobilize a team of skilled optical surgeons to travel to Ladakh in the summer of 2010 to perform the necessary corrective operations on the more than 60 cases of severe cataracts that were diagnosed by Dr. Ang.
Please have a look at the short, edited version of a 30 minute documentary on the Himalayan Dental/Medical Project that was aired on Channel News Asia in December 2009. Thanks to the director Ms Lay Har and her team who did a terrific job. Thanks as well to a great friend of Ladakh Erik Koto for his work at editing a short version for the website.