13 Facts About Sanduk Ruit

Sanduk Ruit is the founder and the executive director of the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, which manufactures intraocular lenses for surgical implantation at a fraction of the previous manufacturing cost.

Sanduk Ruit's family made a subsistence living from small agriculture, petty trading and livestock farming.

In many interviews, Sanduk Ruit has mentioned that for him, the most painful was his younger sister Yangla's death.

Sanduk Ruit died at 15 of tuberculosis as the family was too poor to afford treatment that could have saved her life.

In many interviews, Sanduk Ruit has said that this loss made a strong mark on him and instilled in him a resolve to become a doctor and work for the poor who would not otherwise have access to healthcare.

In 1969, Sanduk Ruit graduated from Siddhartha Vanasthali School in Kathmandu, Nepal, and later was further educated in India.

Sanduk Ruit studied a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from King George's Medical College, Lucknow, with a scholarship from 1972 to 1976.

Sanduk Ruit then returned to Nepal and worked as a General Physician in Bir Hospital, Kathmandu for three years.

Sanduk Ruit noticed Ruit's work and determination and offered him further study about cataract surgery in Australia in 1986.

Sanduk Ruit further studied in Australia, the Netherlands and the United States.

Sanduk Ruit was offered to stay and work in Australia, but he returned to Nepal and continued to work at Tripureshwor Eye Hospital.

In 1995, Sanduk Ruit developed a new intraocular lens that could be produced far more cheaply and which, as of 2010, is used in over 60 countries.

In 1994, Dr Sanduk Ruit founded the Tilganga Eye Center, now called the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, in Kathmandu.