replace the late supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg senate leaders say confirmation hearings will begin on october the 12th. anti-government protesters in egypt have rallied for a 7th consecutive day demonstrators in smaller cities such as give have joined the outcry at least one person died in the demonstrations demanding the resignation of president under fatah sisi he's blamed for overseeing corruption the jury economy and poor living conditions. the u.s. state of new york has recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases in months more than a 1000 new infections were reported cases have been rising in the last few weeks as businesses and schools reopen its rewind now stay with us. counting the cost brazil's economic meltdown denial and corruption but both are not as popular as is on the prospects of what little i have given to the united states on the battle to

get electric cars off the ground. counting the cost. alone welcome again to rewind i'm elizabeth purana here on rewind we're going back to some of our desires most powerful documentaries and finding out how the story has moved on since today we rewind into a film about a remarkable doctor on a mission to cure blindness millions of people around the world suffer from blindness that makes difficult lives harder than ever it in many cases they

condition could be easily cured most cases of cataract blindness occur in the developing world and often they go untreated simply because of poor access to medical facilities but in some of the most remote parts of napalm one of the world's poorest countries and i can revolution is on the way thanks to a doctor locally known as the go on to fight so effective as his technique that doctors from around the world come to naipaul to train with him from the one who won a series back in 2014 he is yahoo mail hands moving and beautiful film the gift of sight. the himalayas remote and wild. the pose mountains are announced for their picturesque beauty. for the

many people living in the shadows of its peaks this stunning splendid can't be seeing. 'd is a 70 year old grandmother living in the foothills of nepal's himalayan mountains. is 4000 feet above sea level with a view many would pay to see. ringback the 4 years ago her world faded to black. it started as if something poked me in the right eye and then it moved on to the left and say as a. mother. is blind in both eyes

and lives her days immobilized by darkness and fear. her husband ring genies both her eyes and her feet. still her world is confined to the walls of this house. that. i used to plow the fields cuts grass and do a lot of work. now i can't even fetch water my husband has to do that. but a solution is within sight. as a form of blindness that is curable cataract blindness. across the country an estimated 150000 police struggle to see most a blind from cataracts a clouding of the key lens of the. arena but one doctor has made it his mission to help them see again.

i've come to the to ganga institute of ophthalmology to meet the man locals call the god of sight. son to kuwait is a world renowned expert in cataract surgery the 59 year old nepalese eye doctor has helped more than 100000 people to see. his one dozens of awards and he's one of the world's leading up from ologists the doctor away still tries to give each of his patients some time even for basic ictus. the center in katmandu is not only a hospital but also a state of the factory. each year 350000 lenses outward used here for cataract patients and sold across the world. in the u.s.

a cost $100.00 to many clock to just one lens here the costs only $3.00 you sell them for about $3.00 to go plus you know making false. i.d.'s to make money. may. help in fact many. millions of people who didn't get the surgery if you believe the economy will come within the package should be having old market maybe caprica. dr weight is not only producing cheap lenses he's also changing the lives of the country's poorest by providing free surgeries all over nepal. today he's preparing to take his clinic out on the road.

dr await has invited me to join him and his daughter on this trip. we begin with a day's drive deep into the mountain. next morning a journey it's tough. it's a steep climb but this is familiar terrain for a doctor oh wait. he grew up in similar foothills in a remote village in east in nepal where he learned what it means to lose somebody to illness when he was a teenager his sister died of tuberculosis passing away was very many people in my life because she passed away in front of me and also i felt certain amount of an emptiness inside who know. a medical conditions like this can take away dear ones from you so soon so i really felt that maybe this is

a profession that i should take up. this will be the 1st i camp ever held in this region. the risk of getting a cataract rises in such high altitudes with prolonged exposure to ultraviolet rays . this combined with poor nutrition and lack of basic medical care may catch wrecks the leading cause of preventable blindness in the developing world. after an 8 hour trek we arrive in the village of bunty. most of the people here assured that an ethnic group made. famous for climbing everest doctora wait staff arrived to head of us and have already begun setting up. a team is rushing to transform this unfinished building into a makeshift hospital it's all hands on deck to turn this room into a surgical stater everything is going to be sterilize the walls and floors scrubbed

down in preparation for surgery tomorrow. some patients are still making their way to the camp. for. the surgery could change her life. about that i'm extremely happy that the i camp is here in my village i really hope that the operation works and they'll be grateful for that. getting his wife to the i can is a challenge for e.g. he's too weak to carry his wife so his brother has come along to help. in the now sterilized operating theater dr weight is getting ready for a long day he aims to complete at least 50 surgeries doctors in the west do only 121518 busy day. i join him as he explains the small

incision surgery technique he pioneered. amid a little cut on the front surface of the man's which is like a ball exe to the front shelf. know what i'm doing next it means i'm isolating the nucleus richest the. nucleus from the back and take it out in one go like that incredible. what you're left now is the back shell of the beautifully intact. with the clouded dumb. lens now removed dr away to carefully slides in an artificial one and this technique requires no stitches. and this is the concept of just the smallest some surgery become self sealing. the surgery is over in less than 7 minutes and in less than 24

hours the patient will see again dr await spent years creating and perfecting the stitch for a surgical technique today his method is widely practiced around the world by doctors who travel to nepal to train under him many come from developing countries like indonesia mean ma ethiopia and even north korea. not all of them speak good english so doctoral wait patiently guides them with hand actions. and. work with. dr joyce clough dane is an eye doctor from a remote island in indonesia a recent medical graduate she's here for a month long training program with doctoral wait. so you'll be able to do pieces independently now. for nearly perfecting the technique so we need to do about

another 2000 of course we can move to besides and susan. every year dr weight and he's tame train about 50 foreign eye doctors. with them learning and a doctor a weight is a lifelong dream. the with. the ghost doctor it is an amazing i don't know a good man who wants to share his knowledge with other eye doctors regardless of which country you come from. for dr joyce it's a steep learning curve to indonesia in indonesia i would operate on 2 to 3 patients a day where since i've arrived here i typically operate on night 10 patients daily . it's late afternoon and both doctors have been operating for more than 5 hours but the crowd outside desperate for their turn isn't easing up. finally it's unglamorous turn. not only going to.

these cataracts are not going to mature but the help of a mature and. and about to burst out if she left her for longer would it be possible to operate them is a really good chance those you know going to. was collinson is glaucoma and. would probably be left with an absolute blind eye and curveball after a few minutes the surgery is done. but. the

next morning back at the eye camp anticipation and anxiety filled the air. i had to no one seems as anxious as. that other. men did the talk of the day you know. that i do go a little more mum. number this up if you're going to us. first of all we would have but we had a look at that it will end up in the middle not some other. yeah but i'm like yeah. yeah there's some other guy like.

if you. actually did say that. my dog is any good i don't believe it was the well we do the fact that she says i'm going to die we've got. to get out of the class find your you know you go go go so they're going to want to that might give might it that. you know you and i you know this so they can intervention is one of the few you know where you will see the patient like this just within 24 hours you know and after 24 hours sees at least 10 years younger than she was yesterday that brings the life brings to life you know the this miles the author of here and i you know in a cycle of psychology and confidence and you see probably has

a legacy expressed in the word. and a beautiful it today getting away from a deep sleep you know let itself say so. none of these villages here thought they'd ever see again. it's a new beginning. to an awful lot like in this religious or when i was in my life so i feel like i've just come eyes of my mother's womb and everything is so clear i just want to do my work and roam in the fields i haven't been anywhere in the past few years but once again strength i would like to travel around. it's the end of dr joyce's month long training in nepal she'll be taking what she's learned home to indonesia to the small island of nias wish to serve as the only trained eye doctor

. it's a lot of pressure but she remains upbeat. and yes i'm happy to return to me yes apart from see my family i can also help the cataract patients in me as regain their eyesight. a few days later i also head for indonesia. i want to see how dr joyce is doing if doctors are having problems getting into nepal's mountains indonesia has 17000 islands are even more challenging it's why having a local eye surgeon is crucial. in that it has one of the highest rates of cataract blindness in the world with experts estimating between 2 and 3000000 people affected by the disease there's been no official studies done here on this island but it's not just adults who are suffering from correct blindness and we're about to find out why. while

altitude is a problem in the pool here is the ultraviolet rays reflecting off the water for a community that spends a lot of time in the ocean many are at high risk of developing cataracts. today dr joyce is conducting the island's 1st cataract surgery camp to dr awaits for most students have flown in to help. while cataracts are usually associated with older people we find children among the waiting patients that are here but for cataracts in children there is a possibility to have it from birth or that depression mother suffered from malnutrition or fever contract a chicken pox but usually the cataracts don't fully form until they're about 11 to 17 years old these siblings are given something to comfort them in preparation for

what's to come. it takes about 5 minutes for the anesthesia to take effect and then it's time for surgery. in the theater dr joyce is getting ready to operate on her 1st child patient. of the head with a. 13 year old soul than tell him ban or is afraid of needles and hid the fact that he was blind in one eye but when he found out there was a free i camp he confessed to his parents that he had trouble saying dr joyce makes the incision but it's not easy to keep a young patient calm. but it's soon over

and solon is sent off to recover for dr joyce it's on to the next patient. the hospital that she's working in is extremely basic sanitation is a problem and there's a severe lack of medical equipment we found only one sterilizer. but fortunately with dr awaits technique you don't need much. and 264 operations are completed here in just 2 days. the next morning the patients line up they and dr joyce are about to find out if the surgeries worked. dr joyce's young patient souls and is now able to see in his right eye it'll take time to feel so when fully recovers. my mind no matter what. i have 5 can you say maybe one made

a little. more long gone. by. some number but i feel happy and proud when my patients regain their eyesight after operations of a whole have. 7 c i think size lonely key is the patient's begin to sing and dance it's been a successful 1st camp. from nepal to indonesia dr awaits vision is inspiring a new generation of doctors. with the surgery so simple and for many free. they not only restoring sight to the world's poorest they were storing hope.

that was the gift of sight the story of an extraordinary man whose work changes lives well we return recently to naipaul to meet dr ross again he's now working to develop community our hospitals to take the prevention of cataract the. i miss down to a local level. 5 is on my face seems completely full and sharp who lives in bomb in the foothills of the he mom yes. she's now in her mid seventy's and established in our lives on treacherous roads for an eye test at the pentagon the hospital in come on to. that that. i think you're beyond that but enjoying it i'm going to get out of the

building to go to the. market of them and know. what i'm talking about my. going to look on down the top of him. on the terrible loss on i'm going any down by the sword like most of us up there i can see he had the confidence in our voice because he was so timid that time you know and i was his sort of feel areas and make fun and i know i could go to the united. i name. but look if i would have money that money can't have. and this was a kid with a. that again let's back it. right here early i. am dying. later that i don't. have that or that it will hurt i've got what kind of mother. although and lamu site

is clearly back she still needs glasses. but if you. add that number that i am going to get not that bad. as my list of farming surgeries dr drew it's hospital also manufactures them says in the last 5 years it's nearly double its production to around 500000 a year and his hospital has been recognized by the world health organization. of 5. to santa dr drew it runs a community i hospital in moscow 100 district. a team of 3 i talk to and support staff runs this hospital screening more than 300

patients every day and performing nearly 5000 surgeries a year most of them cataract surgeries like that of anglo. it's a model that dr who it says is easily johns for 2 other developing countries where the initial investment of $2000000.00 over 3 years before the hospital becomes fully sustainable. this area is so short you can situation the the window same as same. imola to us so we double up a system here keeping in mind that we face these obstacles so such a system of eye care can very easy be replicated in other countries with similar challenges. and if his plan succeeds thousands more will get the gift of sight just like anger.

well that's it from rewind for this week for more from the series there check out the rewind page on al-jazeera dot com i'm elizabeth purana from the hotel thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time. we want to turn. up on the best al-jazeera documentary i would compel the onion we have in the onion the fruits of the heart of the old city. motown to bring. it out here in the soil learning about health by eating good it's trade my life i can't imagine doing something else on al-jazeera. building a wall was the promise made in the bid for the white house 0 tolerance approach the

southern border became government policy detaining children and separating families the stark reality of picture too much to bear for many americans in a country that was built on immigration. follow the key issues of the us elections on al-jazeera. from our geria liberia ponderous and cameroon al-jazeera world means for writers and performers this must not journeys to europe have changed their lives i can use the force about women. i'm talking about we will be we are moving fleeing persecution seeking a safe haven and creative freedom a hard road from home journalists and activists on al-jazeera.

this is al jazeera. 10100 g.m.t. this sunday hello i'm come all santamaria welcome to the news hour from al-jazeera mania has declared martial law and total mobilization of troops fighting breaks out with azerbaijan along the disputed border region also in the news yemen's warring sides agree on a prisoner swap deal during u.n. sponsored talks in switzerland. the us president donald trump picks any honey barack has his supreme court nominee at.