Treating Blindness Around the World

SHRI BHOJAY SARVODAYA EYE HOSPITAL, BHUJ, KUTCH, INDIA, JULY 22 2015: Blind girl Zanvita Rang, 4 yrs, is seen at the Shri Bhojay Sarvodaya Eye hospital, where her parents have brought her for a blindness clinic. She was born with her eye condition. Dr Janak Shah is an accomplished and prolific eye surgeon who volunteers his services to the global poor via SEE International, an NGO with a focus on curing blindness. He and his wife Preeti are seen examining and performing eye surgery at the Shri Bhojay Sarvodaya Eye hospital close to the India Pakistan border. This is a new hospital that offers modern facilities to SEE where Janak can run a blindness camp as well as perform the surgeries required. Janak graduated from the University of Bombay in 1991, and completed his residency in ophthalmology in 1996. Hes been volunteering with SEE International as an eye surgeon since 1996, and in 2013, passed the milestone of 100 SEE expeditions. He is SEEs most prolific doctor and has worked in places like the Peruvian Jungle, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Mongolia, China, Brazil and many other remote locations. He has worked all over India and has performed thousands of eye surgeries, addressing every kind of illness. Janak is a proud adherent of the Jainism religion; he is a strong believer in their religious tenants of mankind being one. Janak often works with his wife Preeti, herself a talented eye surgeon. Together they are a formidable force and can work quickly on a multitude of surgeries in a single day. They have two daughters, one of 11 and the other 15. Both girls often travel with their parents on their volunteer trips for SEE and actively assistant in patient diagnosis as well as assisting their parents in surgery. Janak and Preeti both believe this gives the girls a real perspective on their place in the world and helps to bind them as a family unit. The Shahs live in Mumbai, India and run a successful eye surgery practice when they are not volunteering for SEE International. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage)