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Tej Kohli Foundation

Tej Kohli Foundation

Rebuilding People And Communities

  • Cornea Institute
  • Cornea Program
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Tej Kohli Rebuilding

People And Communities

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Tej Kohli Rebuilding
People And Communities

The Tej Kohli Foundation gives people second chances at life through transformative grassroots interventions and by supporting the development of life-changing treatments.

Funded by Tej Kohli and the Kohli family

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The Tej Kohli Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that is committed to rebuilding people and communities around the world by developing scientific and technological solutions to seemingly intractable human problems. The Tej Kohli Foundation is also committed to making direct interventions that change lives by funding grassroots community programmes with a range of objectives.

Interventions by the Tej Kohli Foundation have restored the sight of tens of thousands of the world’s poorest people who were living with blindness. The Tej Kohli Foundation has also provided bionic arms to disabled teenagers, provided sustainable food sources to thousands of families and continues to fund scientific research and innovations.

In 2021 Tej Kohli re-cast his objective to build a lasting legacy of social and economic change through transformative large-scale interventions by launching the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation*. This sister organisation to the Tej Kohli Foundation is making huge strides to combat needless poverty-derived blindness in the developing world by screening 1,000,000 people for cataracts by 2026. You can read more about the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation at its hub on the Evening Standard.

* The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation is a restricted fund under the auspices of prism The Gift Fund, registered UK charity number 109682.

Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation

The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation has a mission to screen 1,000,000 and to cure at least 300,000 patients of cataract blindness by 2026. The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation unites two of the world’s biggest names in the fight to cure blindness in poor and underserved communities: Mr. Tej Kohli and ‘God of Sight’ Dr. Sanduk Ruit.

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Tej Kohli
Cornea Institute

Between 2015 and 2019 the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute (India) welcomed 223,404 outpatients and carried out 43,255 free surgical procedures to alleviate and cure corneal blindness in the world’s poorest communities. In the United Kingdom, the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute (UK) awards grants to innovative science and research projects that can bridge the treatment gap in the poorer countries where 90% of visually impaired people live.

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Tej Kohli
Cornea Program

The Tej Kohli Cornea Program at Mass. Eye & Ear, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, is a $2m program to accelerate innovative and collaborative research to achieve unprecedented breakthroughs in corneal disease. The Tej Kohli Cornea Program includes cutting-edge molecular technology for the rapid diagnosis of corneal infection, and also GelCORE, an adhesive biomaterial for replacing corneal tissue.

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Tej Kohli &
Ruit Foundation

The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to curing cataract blindness in low-and-middle-income countries. It represents a partnership between “God Of Sight” Dr Sanduk Ruit and technologist Tej Kohli. The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation is already curing thousands of people for free in countries all over the world.

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Tej Kohli
Applied Research

Supported by an advisory board that includes the most eminent ophthalmologists from around the world, the Tej Kohli Research Centre is engaged in the pursuit of an accessible, affordable and scalable solution for eliminating corneal blindness that does not rely on surgery or donated cornea, through the development of proprietary synthetic biotech that could be relevant to one-third of those waiting for corneal transplants worldwide.

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Tej Kohli
Future Bionics

The Tej Kohli Future Bionics program highlights how technology can substantially improve the lives and confidence of younger people living with disabilities. The program epitomises the Tej Kohli Foundation’s focus on helping young people who are living with disabilities by making a direct and meaningful intervention into their lives using technology. The program funds the purchase and fitting of the bionic multi-grip myoelectric controlled prosthetic ‘Hero Arm’ for young people in the United Kingdom who are living with limb differences.

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Tej Kohli
Food Support

If you represent a charity of community group that requires support in ensuring that you can continue to provide food to local people in a sustainable way, please contact our team directly and provide as much information as possible including your telephone number and address. We will endeavour to respond directly as quickly as possible, but we may also refer your enquiry directly to another organisation if we believe that they can better support you.

Find out more >>

Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation

The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation has a mission to screen 1,000,000 and to cure at least 300,000 patients of cataract blindness by 2026. The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation unites two of the world’s biggest names in the fight to cure blindness in poor and underserved communities: Mr Tej Kohli and ‘God of Sight’ Dr Sanduk Ruit.

Find out more >>

Tej Kohli Cornea Institute

Between 2015 and 2019 the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute (India) welcomed 223,404 outpatients and carried out 43,255 free surgical procedures to alleviate and cure corneal blindness in the world’s poorest communities. In the United Kingdom, the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute (UK) awards grants to innovative science and research projects that can bridge the treatment gap in the poorer countries where 90% of visually impaired people live.

Find out more >>

Tej Kohli Cornea Program

The Tej Kohli Cornea Program at Mass. Eye & Ear, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, is a $2m program to accelerate innovative and collaborative research to achieve unprecedented breakthroughs in corneal disease. The Tej Kohli Cornea Program includes cutting-edge molecular technology for the rapid diagnosis of corneal infection, and also GelCORE, an adhesive biomaterial for replacing corneal tissue.

Find out more >>

Tej Kohli Applied Research

Supported by an advisory board that includes the most eminent ophthalmologists from around the world, the Tej Kohli Research Centre is engaged in the pursuit of an accessible, affordable and scalable solution for eliminating corneal blindness that does not rely on surgery or donated cornea, through the development of proprietary synthetic biotech that could be relevant to one-third of those waiting for corneal transplants worldwide.

Find out more >>

Tej Kohli Future Bionics

The Tej Kohli Future Bionics program highlights how technology can substantially improve the lives and confidence of younger people living with disabilities. The program epitomises the Tej Kohli Foundation’s focus on helping young people who are living with disabilities by making a direct and meaningful intervention into their lives using technology. The program funds the purchase and fitting of the bionic multi-grip myoelectric controlled prosthetic ‘Hero Arm’ for young people in the United Kingdom who are living with limb differences.

Find out more >>

Tej Kohli Food Support

If you represent a charity of community group that requires support in ensuring that you can continue to provide food to local people in a sustainable way, please contact our team directly and provide as much information as possible including your telephone number and address. We will endeavour to respond directly as quickly as possible, but we may also refer your enquiry directly to another organisation if we believe that they can better support you.

Find out more >>

Proudly Supporting Younger People

Projects of the Tej Kohli Foundation have transformed thousands of lives all over the world. We are particularly proud of the impact that we have on children and younger people.

In South America, our Funda Kohli canteens have fed hundreds of children before and after school every day since 2005.

In the United Kingdom, we are proud to have provided limb-different children with state-of-the-art bionic limbs since 2019.

In India, we have cured hundreds of children of blindness and visual impairment caused by corneal deficiencies since 2015.

In Southern Asia, we are treating children with congenital cataracts and have committed to curing 1,000 by 2026

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@Tej_Kohli_Foundation

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Dr Sanduk Ruit & Mr Tej Kohli unite to combat cataract blindness in the world’s poorest communities by screening 1,000,000 and curing 300,000 by 2026.

tej_kohli_foundation
Sonapathi Tharu had been living with a visual impa Sonapathi Tharu had been living with a visual impairment and never got the opportunity to have her eyes checked. She arrived at a #TejKohliandRuitFoundation camp and was informed that she was living with cataract blindness. #UNSDG1 #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit #2030inSight
In June, 2022, the #TejKohliandRuitFoundation scre In June, 2022, the #TejKohliandRuitFoundation screened 1,607 patients in Bardiya District to identify, and cure an entire community of #needlessblindness. #UNSDG1 #RighttoSight #NeedlessBlindness #ScreeningCamps #2030inSight  #Blindness #VisionLoss #TejKohli #DrRuit
In a high school in Motipur, Bardiya District, whi In a high school in Motipur, Bardiya District, which has been converted into a screening camp for the residents of the village, a man has his vision checked. #UNSDG1 #RighttoSight #NeedlessBlindness #2030inSight  #Blindness #VisionLoss #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit
After screening 1607 patients in Baridya District After screening 1607 patients in Baridya District in June, 2022, the #TejKohliandRuitFoundation identified 76  patients with living with #cataract blindness. #UNSDG1 #RighttoSight #NeedlessBlindness #ScreeningCamps #2030inSight  #Blindness #VisionLoss #TejKohli #DrRuit
The #TejKohliandRuitFoundation has an aspiration t The #TejKohliandRuitFoundation has an aspiration to screen one million and cure 300,000 to 500,000 by 2030  while making a significant contribution to the number 1 #UnitedNations Sustainable Development Goal to end extreme poverty everywhere. #UNSDG1 #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit
Umer Sadiq, an ophthalmic assistant at Fatehbal Ey Umer Sadiq, an ophthalmic assistant at Fatehbal Eye  Hospital screens the eyes of a patient during a #TejKohliandRuitFoundation screening camp in Bardiya District, Nepal in June, 2022. #UNSDG1 #RighttoSight #NeedlessBlindness #ScreeningCamps #2030inSight  #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit
Locals from Gauripara, yet again a majority of the Locals from Gauripara, yet again a majority of them women, await their turn at the #TejKohliandRuitFoundation screening camp in Bardiya District, Nepal. #Blindness #VisionLoss #UNSDG1 #RighttoSight ScreeningCamps #TejKohli #DrRuit #2030inSight
The #TejKohliandRuitFoundation is on a mission to The #TejKohliandRuitFoundation is on a mission to screen one million in the developing world, with a special focus on women and children. #UNSDG1 #RighttoSight #NeedlessBlindness #GenderInequality #2030inSight #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit
An eye healthworker conducts a vision test on a wo An eye healthworker conducts a vision test on a woman in Bardiya District. Here, he is seen showing five fingers from a relatively close distance.  #UNSDG1 #RighttoSight #NeedlessBlindness #GenderInequality #2030inSight  #Blindness #VisionLoss #TejKohli #DrRuit
68 year old Ramjaniya Tharu of Haupur in Bardiya D 68 year old Ramjaniya Tharu of Haupur in Bardiya District knew she was #visuallyimpaired. She meant to get her eyes checked at the local community eye centre, however never got the opportunity. #SDG1 #RighttoSight #GenderEquity #WomenRights #2030insight #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit
The #TejKohliandRuitFoundation lays a special emph The #TejKohliandRuitFoundation lays a special emphasis on screening #women and #children in underserved communities - providing them a second chance to #sight to ensure #genderequity, and a dignified life. #SDG1 #RighttoSight #WomenRights #2030insight #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit
Here, nine women, who were identified as living wi Here, nine women, who were identified as living with #cataractblindness are awaiting a #TejKohliandRuitFoundation vehicle to take them to the hospital for their free #surgeries. #SDG1 #RighttoSight #GenderEquity #WomenRights #HumanRights #TejKohli #DrRuit #2030insight
At a local school in Gauripara, Bardiya, Anurag Pr At a local school in Gauripara, Bardiya, Anurag Prajapati, a student pursuing his Opthalmic Assistant degree screens patients during a #TejKohliandRuitFoundation screening camp. 
#2030insight #NeedlessBlindness #Cataracts #UNSDG1 #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit
#TejKohliandRuitFoundation patients await the doct #TejKohliandRuitFoundation patients await the doctor for their vision test after their successful cataract surgeries in June, 2022. #2030insight #NeedlessBlindness #Cataracts #TejKohli #DrRuit #WomeninNepal #UNSDG1
A woman from Bardiya District in Nepal has her eye A woman from Bardiya District in Nepal has her eyes screened as other locals await their turn at the #TejKohliandRuitFoundation screening camp in Motipur Village. #2030insight #NeedlessBlindness #Cataracts #WomeninNepal #UNSDG1 #TejKohli #DrRuit
On 9th June, 2022, the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation On 9th June, 2022, the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation screened 113 people for #cataractblindness in Motipur Village, Bardiya District, Nepal. #2030insight #TejKohli #DrSandukRuit #NeedlessBlindness #Cataracts #WomeninNepal #UNSDG1
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Our History

The not-for-profit Tej Kohli Foundation was set up to operate in areas blighted by extreme poverty and to reach out to those who hoped for a brighter future. For many years and under the direction of Wendy and Tej Kohli, the Tej Kohli Foundation has supported projects at the heart of communities which have been neglected, especially when interventions can help to combat a lack of education, poor health or prejudice. Our longstanding ‘Funda Kohli’ project has fed hundreds of children and young families every day in Costa Rica without interruption since 2005.

Today the Tej Kohli Foundation is best known for the Tej Kohli mission to end the needless blindness that occurs because of poverty and inequality. Worldwide there are 45 million people who are bilaterally blind and another 135 million who have severe visual impairment in both eyes. A staggering 90% of these individuals live in the poorest countries in the world where issues such as poverty and inequality have created a pervasive treatment gap. The social and economic impact of this avoidable, needless and often curable blindness is incalculable.

It was 2010 when our founder Tej Kohli started to fund corneal transplant surgeries at Niramaya Hospital in India. The success of this activity quickly grew, so in 2015 we launched the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute at the LV Prasad Hospital in Hyderabad, a World Health Organisation collaborating centre. Between 2015 and 2019 the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute completed 43,255 free surgical procedures to cure and alleviate blindness in some of the world’s poorest people. The Tej Kohli Cornea Institute also welcomed 223, 404 outpatient and collected 38,225 donor cornea for eye banks.

We have become expert in making grassroots interventions which make an immediate and visible impact. We have also become highly adept at managing our resources so that nearly 100% of our funding is spent directly on helping people, rather than on organizational overhead costs. However, the hard truth is that it is impossible to eliminate needless blindness using current methods, which often rely on evasive surgical procedures and transplants. This type of treatment is entirely inaccessible to the overwhelming majority of blind people in the world.

In order to end blindness we must get better at prevention by improving healthcare access and introducing rapid new diagnostics tools. We also need to create new treatment solutions that are affordable, accessible and scalable ‘for the masses’. Therefore, in recent years Tej Kohli has provided additional funding to enable the Tej Kohli Foundation to support scientific and technological advances in the fight against needless blindness.

For many years, our Applied Research division in London and Canada has been working on a liquid biosynthetic replacement for corneal transplant surgery. In 2019 we also inaugurated our Cornea Program in Boston, USA, which is also developing biosynthetic alternatives to surgery; as well as developing innovative new tools to prevent blindness, including rapid diagnostics tools that utilize DNA-hybridization and nano string technologies.

Over the years we have remained faithful to the values upon which the Tej Kohli Foundation was founded. In the United Kingdom we have expanded our ‘Rebuilding You’ mandate to fund robotic 3D-printed ‘bionic’ arms that improve the confidence and prospects of limb different teenagers as part of our ongoing #FutureBionics program. Our ongoing ‘Food Support’ program has is supporting grassroots organisations to develop a sustainable infrastructure to combat holiday hunger amongst younger people within minority London communities.

The most recent chapter of the Tej Kohli Foundation began in 2021 when we launched our most ambitious project to date. The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation is an independent not-for-profit which brings together Tej Kohli with Dr. Sanduk Ruit in a unique partnership that will seek to screen 1,000,000 patients and cure 300,000 of cataract blindness worldwide by 2026. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness, accounting for half of the world’s 40 million blind, with the majority living in the developing world and 5 million new cases each year.

On 30 March 2021 the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation conducted its first high volume cataract outreach surgeries in the highly symbolic location of Lumbini in Nepal, the birthplace of Buddha, curing 400 individuals of cataract blindness during a four-day mission. Tens of thousands of patients have since been screened and many thousands have been cured of cataract blindness.

Going forward the vast majority of the resources of the Tej Kohli Foundation will be deployed into the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation as our primary area of focus as we deliver free cataract surgeries in territories including Nepal, Northern India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, North Korea, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Lebanon and Syria. Our longer-term goal is to establish and fund a network of permanent community eye hospitals in every location.

The #1 goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. We know that this can only be achieved if the world simultaneously brings an end to needless blindness. The Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation will be demonstrating how this can be achieved and sharing stories to inspire and provoke action from others. You can read more on the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation hub on the Evening Standard.

Latest News

  • China approves world’s first artificial cornea of 100% non-biological materialsJanuary 19, 2022
  • Biomaterial may help repair, replace damaged corneasJanuary 19, 2022
  • Scientists Successfully 3D Print Human Corneas; This Breakthrough Can Be the Solution for Transplant ShortageJanuary 8, 2022
  • evening-standard
    Meet Tej Kohli, a man on a mission to heal the world’s blindDecember 18, 2021
  • evening-standard
    Meet Dr Sanduk Ruit, the Barefoot Surgeon who’s cured 130,000 of blindnessDecember 18, 2021
  • evening-standard
    We have to cure blindness if we want to reduce extreme povertyDecember 18, 2021
  • evening-standard
    How the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation will cure 500,000 of blindness by 2026December 18, 2021
  • Seven-minute miracles: a plan to reduce the number of children with cataract blindness by 0.5% worldwideNovember 19, 2021
  • Seven-minute miracles: a plan to reduce the number of children with cataract blindness by 0.5% worldwideNovember 19, 2021
  • weforum
    To end extreme poverty, we must also end blindnessJune 28, 2021
  • express-co-uk
    Schoolboy, 15, can ride a bike for the first time after getting bionic armMay 21, 2021
  • aljazeera
    God of Sight: Prominent Nepal doctor to expand work beyond borderApril 21, 2021

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#TejTalks

Tej Kohli is best known as founder of the Tej Kohli Foundation and co-Founder of the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation.  In his #TejTalks blogTej Kohli regularly blogs about pertinent subjects including blindness and poverty.

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