Kathmandu, May 18:

Director of the Tilganga Eye Centre, Dr Sanduk Ruit, has been appointed an Honorary Officer in the Order of Australia, the highest honour that the Australian Government awards to foreigners.

Dr Ruit has been honoured for his contribution to humanity through his establishment of eye care services in Nepal and surrounding countries, and his teaching and training.

His technical innovation, including suture-less procedures and a temporal section approach, which speed-up the recovery of vision and allow high quality cataract surgery to be performed very cost effectively have helped many people throughout the world, including Australia, says the Embassy of Australia in a media release here today.