The Tej
Kohli & Ruit Foundation, a London based NGO that is funded entirely
by Tej
Kohli and the Kohli family, has passed a key milestone of screening
150,000 people from remote and underserved communities in the developing world.
17,289 were identified as being blind or severely visually impaired due to
cataracts. All have now been cured.
The Tej
Kohli & Ruit Foundation is targeting the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty, by making large-scale surgical
interventions to cure blindness. The Foundation says that the socio-economic
return of curing someone of cataract blindness in the developing world is 1,500%
of the cost of surgery during the first postoperative year.
The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation launched in March 2021 at Lumbini in
Nepal, the birthplace of Buddha, and the majority of its initial work has
focused on the country. A 2019 survey showed that 1.05% of Nepalese over the
age of 50 were blind or severely visually impaired.
In August 2022 the NGO also commenced its first projects in Bhutan, where
246 people were cured of blindness during a six-day period, many of them having
their surgery performed by ‘God of Sight’ Dr
Sanduk Ruit, who is co-founder of the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation.
Needless blindness remains highly pervasive in the developing world and can
be a major inhibiter to economic development. Over 90% of the people living
needlessly with curable blindness reside in low-income countries. As life
expectancy increases, so does the incidence of untreated cataract. 62% of those
cured of blindness by the NGO are over 70 years old.
64% of those living needlessly with blindness in the developing world are
female. Women and girls are also more likely to be disenfranchised out of
education or work to become full time carers for a blind family member.
The Tej
Kohli & Ruit Foundation has sought to redress the balance through
outreach, with 56.4% of the patients cured by the NGO being female. The NGO has
also cured 10 young girls who were blind due to congenital cataract.
The co-founders of the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation draw from their own
experiences to enhance their impact in low-income countries. Indian-born Tej Kohli made his fortune by building and selling a
series of companies specialising in online payment technologies and by
investing in real estate. Tej
Kohli has committed a significant portion of his wealth to reducing
extreme poverty by curing needless blindness in low-income countries.
Dr Sanduk Ruit is Nepalese ophthalmologist and
surgeon. Born into the lowest tiers of a rigid caste system in a tiny remote
village in the Himalayas, Dr Ruit lost three of his siblings to diseases that
would be easily curable in the West. He resolved that he would become a doctor
to bring Western-quality treatments to those who needed it most. Today he is
known worldwide as the ‘God of Sight’ and is recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay
Award - Asia’s equivalent of a Nobel prize - after personally curing hundreds
of thousands of blindness.
The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation plans to cure at least 300,000 of
cataract blindness by 2030 as part of the #2030InSight strategic plan to embed
vision as a fundamental economic, social and development issue worldwide.
The Tej Kohli & Ruit
Foundation is a restricted fund operating under the auspices of Prism The
Gift Fund, registered UK charity number 1099682. For more information
visit:
Website: www.tejkohliruit.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejkohliruit/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tej-kohli-ruit-foundation/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tejkohliruitfoundation
Medium: https://tejkohliruitfoundation.medium.com/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tkrfoundation
