Greatest Kiwi Of All Time: No. 98 - Fred Hollows (Down 4 from 94 last year)
Tasman Glacier, 1951. Young climber Edmund Hillary is on a practice climb, he hopes to be part of a team attempting to scale Everest the following year. A figure appears before him, bounding down the mountain. He introduces himself as Fred Hollows and offers to carry Hillary’s pack up the glacier for him. It’s an offer too good for Hillary to refuse.
Fred Hollows would go on to become just as important as Hillary in his chosen field, ophthalmology - eye surgery. It is estimated more than a million people in the world today can see, because of initiatives created by Hollows and his Fred Hollows Foundation.
Born in Dunedin in 1929, Fred Hollows was born in Dunedin before moving to Palmerston North at the age of 7. After receiving a BA from Victoria University, he went on to study medicine at Otago University. Then, in 1961 he went to England to study ophthalmology.
From 1965 to 1992, Hollows chaired the ophthalmology division at the University of New South Wales. It was here he became concerned with the high number of aboriginal people with eye disorders, particularly trachoma, a disease not found anywhere else in the world.
He would travel to Nepal, Eritrea and Vietnam to train locals in eye surgery. It was these visits that motivated him to find a way to reduce the cost of eye care in developing countries.
Hollows introduced intraocular lens factories in Eritrea and Nepal to make lenses at cost, which was about ten dollars. Today, these factories have produced millions of lenses and are a constant reminder of Hollow’s enduring impact.
The Fred Hollows Foundation was launched as a charity in 1992 to continue the work of Fred Hollows in providing eye care for the underprivileged and poor. It continues to operate in Australia, the UK and here, in Aotearoa.
Hollows died in Sydney in 1993 at the age of 63. Held in the highest regard, Hollows was once Australian of the year. He was given a state funeral in his adopted country. Fred Hollows, one of Today FM's Greatest Kiwis of all time.
GKOAT 23 - Thanks to resene.
Today FM's Greatest Kiwis Of All Time, thanks to Resene - helping Kiwis decorate with NZ made paints since 1946.
