He is an eye surgeon who has led 31 eye surgery missions to nine countries in Africa, Latin America and South Asia, multiple times to some of these countries, in the last 25 years. Meet Dr K V Ravishankar, chairman, Usha Kiran Eye Hospital, Mysuru, and a member of the Rotary E-Club of Bangalore, RID 3191, who has been doing “international volunteering since 2001 to donate my surgical skills for treating needy people across the world.”
Till date, his medical missions have resulted in 1,609 surgeries, of which 50 per cent were on children. As many as 20 of these foreign medical visits were ‘solo missions,’ thanks to generous funding from corporates, private sponsors and his home club.
Now for the first time, he has obtained a global grant of $55,000 for doing 200 paediatric eye surgeries in Ghana. “We are doing this in three phases. During our first visit in the first week of June, our three-member team performed 43 surgeries at the Tamale Eye Hospital, trained a local surgeon, and many nurses in handling complicated eye surgeries,” explains Dr Ravishankar. He is also a technical cadre advisor, Blindness Prevention, for TRF.
During the week-long surgery camp, “children with complex sight disorders were given life-changing surgical care, bringing new hope, improved vision, and a bright future to 43 families across North Ghana and beyond,” he said.
Apart from major surgeries, the mission team did rectification procedures for cataract, squint eyes, plastic-cum-reconstructive surgeries, and on-site training and skill transfer to host ophthalmologists. Dr Ravishankar was assisted by his wife Dr Uma both Rotarians, and Dr Milind Bhide, a non-Rotarian from Hyderabad.
Sub-Saharan nightmare
Explaining the situation in the Sub-Sahara region, he said, among the patients, around 40 per cent children had congenital or traumatic cataracts, 40 per cent suffered from squint eye maladies, and 20 per cent had to undergo oculoplastic procedures (a reconstructive process around the eye for medical, cosmetic enhancements). “What we found is just a small glimpse of the actual need. For, the Sub-Saharan Africa alone faces an estimated 80,000 cataract cases a year among children in need of surgery,” said the doctor, citing the findings of study reports of global agencies such as IAPB and WHO. “We were happy to see the results of our surgeries being reflected in the beautiful smiles of the children during post operative care, which brought a big relief to their parents,” said the ophthalmic surgeon. On the whole, it was a challenging, but rewarding camp. “Every successful surgery means a child going back to school with confidence, parents regaining hope, and a family getting a second chance at a better quality of life.”
Looking back, Dr Ravishankar said the Ghana eye surgery mission was made possible with support from TRF, partner clubs — RCs Accra-Industrial, Accra-Premier International, both from Ghana; his home club, RCs Bangalore Abilities, Ivory City Mysuru; the Evans Family Foundation, Charlotte, US; the Avoidable Blindness Foundation, Bengaluru; two Rotary clubs in UK; and one club each in the US and Canada.
The Indian medical mission was given “all the necessary support and facilities for the surgeries by Dr Judith Simon, MD, Tamale Hospital.” PDG Dave Amankwa, RID 9104, and past AG Emmanuel Quarshie, project contact, were present to extend their cooperation to the Indian doctors.
Having started his career at Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, Dr Ravishankar found his ‘true calling’ when he became a Rotarian in 1997–98, “to provide voluntary medical service to local people.” Only with the support of Rotary clubs in India and abroad, individual donors and Foundations, “we were able to complete over 30 eye surgery missions till now,” he smiles.