To keep this brief, I am currently in Pokhara, Nepal and have a "substance" in my cornea, which got there about a week ago while trekking on the Ghorapani to Ghandruk loop. I went today to the Himalaya Eye Hospital, dropped 1000 Rs for "preferential tourist treatment," saw 2 doctors instantly, and after about 10 minutes received (for 134 Rs) 3 types of medicine for my eyes, 2 drops and 1 cream. The drops are an anti-inflammatory and two general antiseptics, so they will not do much, and in 12 hours I have a followup appointment where I will hopefully learn more about the severity of my left eye. So I am wondering if anyone knows anything about the Himalaya Eye Hospital, has been there for treatment themselves, etc. I haven't turned up much searching via Google, but hopefully there is some valuable information somewhere. I don't know yet if this is a "worst-case scenario" in which case I have insurance to get me back to America for medical treatment if needed, but given that my wife and I are in the midst of a year-long RTW trip before teaching in S. Korea for a year, doing so would be very inconvenient. Not as inconvinient as being blind in one eye, however...
I will be getting some regional eye doctor recommendations from my optician back in Colorado, but am hoping some first-hand information may be available. The hospital was very clean, had modern equipment, and a sufficient English-speaking staff, though today I only looked at eye charts with one eye covered (with my left the big "E" was unreadable), and then got a light shined in my eyes at length, upon which I received the diagnosis I outlined above.
Thanks so much for any help/suggestions, hopefully this won't be a big deal, but anything can happen in this crazy world of ours!
Peace
Anderson
A few weeks ago my Mom developed three tears to her cornea on the day she arrived in India for an extended holiday. She went to the Chaudhary Eye Centre and saw Dr. Ajay Aurora in Delhi www.spectacleremoval.com. She had to undergo major eye surgery. She was really pleased with the facilities and treatment. She had similar surgery last year in Canada and she said theirs was on par.
India is very advanced in terms of its medical facilities so I wouldn't be afraid to go there for any kind of treatment.
Because of poverty and civil unrest Nepal lags far behind much of asia in terms of medical facilities.
You can fly to Delhi from Kathmandu for about $150 US and it is a very short flight. You will need to get an Indian visa from the consulate in Kathmandu. Perhaps a letter from a doctor would help speed up the process.
Be sure to get an airconditioned room in Delhi as it is hot as hell there right now. I recieved excellent advice from Pallav, a regular on this board, of cooler places in the mountains for my Mom to visit between appointments in Delhi.
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