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Profiles in One for One: Dr. Salma & her full-circle story in Nepal

Posted  on October 9, 2012  by Giving //
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In the small village where Dr. Salma KC Rai grew up, it wasn’t the custom for girls to attend school. But Salma’s father had other plans for his daughter, and he took her to India where she could get the kind of education she deserved. Eventually Salma decided to become a pediatric ophthalmologist, and after her residency, she returned to Nepal and began work at the Lumbini Eye Institute.

With help from TOMS and Giving Partner Seva Foundation, she and her team developed mobile eye camps that could travel to the remotest of villages. During one recent three-day camp, they examined more than 400 patients and performed nearly 100 surgeries, as well as providing hundreds of people with medical treatment and prescription glasses.

She’s even brought a mobile camp to her hometown. “I took a surgical team to my village,” said Salma. And one of her patients was her own grandmother.

“When I go back to my village, I think my family is proud to see me as a doctor, and that inspires the other young generations of females who are still in school.”