{"id":"sanduk-ruit","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/sanduk-ruit","language":"en","name":"Sanduk Ruit","name_en":"Sanduk Ruit","name_ne":"सन्दुक रुइत","description":"Nepalese ophthalmologist (eye surgeon)","headline":"Nepalese ophthalmologist (eye surgeon)","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Dr. Sanduk Ruit (Nepali: सन्दुक रूइत; pronounced [ˈsʌnduk rui̯t]) is an ophthalmologist from Nepal who has helped restore the sight of over 250,000 people across North America, Africa and Asia using small-incision cataract surgery (RUITECTOMY) and Phacoemulsification cataract surgery.","summary_more":["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. The low cost has made cataract surgeries slightly cheaper in Nepal.","Ruit has been referred to as the \"God of Sight\", a moniker that he earned after restoring the sight of a 60-year-old woman through cataract surgery in Indonesia.","He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding, considered to be the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for \"placing Nepal at the forefront of developing safe, effective, and economical procedures for cataract surgery, enabling the needlessly blind in even the poorest countries to see again.\"","He was awarded with the ISA award, the highest civilian award in Bahrain by the king of Bahrain for developing highly affordable and sustainable ways to cure cataracts throughout the developing world with a cash prize of 1 million dollars."],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"4 September 1954","date":"1954-09-04"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Olangchung Gola","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3411827","page":"https://diginpl.com/places/olangchung-gola"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997#P19"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"Nepal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q837"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"ophthalmologist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12013238"},{"text":"surgeon","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q774306"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997#P106"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"All India Institutes of Medical Sciences","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3279500"},{"text":"St. Roberts School, Darjeeling","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7591612"},{"text":"King George's Medical University","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6411596"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997#P69"}},{"key":"website","label":"Official website","values":[{"text":"sandukruit.org","url":"http://www.sandukruit.org"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997#P856"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Ramon Magsaysay Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q777181","date":"2006"},{"text":"Padma Shri in Medicine","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30132672","date":"2018"},{"text":"Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q56447056","date":"2007-05-18"},{"text":"Padma Shri","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q949193"},{"text":"Order of Australia","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1141149"},{"text":"National Order of Merit","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4356778"},{"text":"Prince Mahidol Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2110577"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanduk_Ruit","https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%95_%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%87%E0%A4%A4","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997","http://www.sandukruit.org"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Sanduk Ruit born?","a":"Sanduk Ruit was born on 4 September 1954 in Olangchung Gola."},{"q":"Where did Sanduk Ruit study?","a":"Sanduk Ruit was educated at All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, St. Roberts School, Darjeeling, King George's Medical University."}],"related":[{"name":"Tenzing Norgay","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/tenzing-norgay"},{"name":"Suman Pokhrel","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/suman-pokhrel"},{"name":"Manisha Koirala","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/manisha-koirala"},{"name":"Gyanendra of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gyanendra-of-nepal"},{"name":"Birendra of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/birendra-of-nepal"},{"name":"Nirmal Purja","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/nirmal-purja"},{"name":"Dipendra of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/dipendra-of-nepal"},{"name":"Udit Narayan","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/udit-narayan"},{"name":"Śuddhodana","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/suddhodana"},{"name":"Mahendra of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mahendra-of-nepal"},{"name":"Chandra Bahadur Dangi","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/chandra-bahadur-dangi"},{"name":"B. P. Koirala","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/b-p-koirala"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/sanduk-ruit-4fe1e3664f.jpg","width":500,"height":334,"license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","credit":"Aasemsj","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanduk_Ruit_Erudite_Conclave_Medical_College_Trivandrum.JPG"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Sanduk Ruit","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanduk_Ruit","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikipedia (Nepali): सन्दुक रुइत","url":"https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%95_%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%87%E0%A4%A4","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q7416997","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7416997","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Sanduk Ruit Erudite Conclave Medical College Trivandrum.JPG by Aasemsj (CC BY-SA 3.0)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanduk_Ruit_Erudite_Conclave_Medical_College_Trivandrum.JPG","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Sanduk Ruit, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Sanduk Ruit Erudite Conclave Medical College Trivandrum.JPG — Aasemsj, CC BY-SA 3.0.","cite":"\"Sanduk Ruit\". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/sanduk-ruit. Retrieved 6 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-10-31T10:00:46Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-05","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/sanduk-ruit","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/sanduk-ruit","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/sanduk-ruit?lang=ne"}}