Khadga Bahadur Bhandari

Meet Khadga Bahadur Bhandari, an 80 year old man who received sight-restoring surgery at a cataract outreach event in Ramechhap Nepal, organized by the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology with support from the Himalayan Cataract Project. Accompanied by his only son, Khadga traveled three hours on a very bumpy road to Ramechhap initially for a foot injury. Unbeknownst to Khadga, who was blind in both eyes from cataracts, and his son, a cataract outreach event was happening at the hospital simultaneously.

Blind for the past six years, Khadga was elated to hear he could have his sight restored saying, “how soon can we do it, this would change my life in so many ways.” Due to his blindness and foot injury, Khadga said he had sat in a room in complete darkness for about six months - trapped by his blindness.

When asked what he was looking forward to most Khadga said, “I could do everything again! I would be independent and my family would be unburdened. I could go outside again, and I can’t wait to see my family and my village in the sunshine again.”