Medical Team Group Photo
Dr. Teguh Filbert Metaputra & Gilang, Dr. Sriana Wulansari, Yayuk & Nurhayati, Dr. Ayu Wibowo
Dr. Teguh Filbert Metaputra
is a young, talented, focused and dedicated eye surgeon with a heart of gold. A vegan, whose hobby is to read publications on ophthalmology, Dr Teguh seeks every opportunity to learn and grow. Dr Teguh, despite his youth, is fast becoming one of the best cataract surgeons in Indonesia.
Such is his dedication to serve the poor, Dr Teguh declined numerous offers to join prestigious commercial eye centres in order to allow ample time for his philanthropic work as a surgeon at Eye Clinics. He also works two days a week out of RS Fathma Medika, a private hospital in Gresik, East Java, servicing poor patients, a project funded by A New Vision. He never complains of the two hour drive each way from Surabaya to Gresik!
Gilang
Gilang is a young paramedic who not only rises to meet the exacting standards Dr Teguh expects of his medical staff, but revels in the opportunity to push himself to perform at his optimum. Gilang recognises the sheer devastation one mistake could make in the life of a patient and takes his job very seriously. In his downtime, Gilang loves to unwind with hard rock music.
Dr Sriana Wulansari
known as Dr Wulan is, without a doubt, the most prolific cataract surgeon in Indonesia.
Practising in the West Nusa Tenggara province which comprises a group of islands inhabited by over 4.5 million people, this province is one of Indonesia’s poorest. Impacted by malnutrition and its subsequent outcomes including high rates of infant mortality and a lower than average life expectancy, the region is also affected disproportionately by cataract blindness. Of the 3000 cataract surgeries performed annually in West Nusa Tenggara the petite sized Dr Wulan carried out 80% of these. Her surgical skills are known to rival any great surgeon in the world. And she chooses to remain in this rural province where she is passionately committed to eradicating blindness in an area with such great need.
Nurse Nurhayati
has been assisting Dr. Wulan for many years. Quiet, reserved and conscientious, she takes her job seriously and cares a lot about her diabetic father.
Nurse Yayuk
originally from Bali, Yayuk has been living in Lombok for many years assisting Dr. Wulan. She carries with her the typically Bali friendliness and jovial attitude.
Dr. Ayu Wibowo
While most Jakarta based eye surgeons opt to use the more expensive phacoemulsification technique (most suitable for immature cataracts and financially able patients), Dr Ayu Wibowo wants to prevent the deterioration of her Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS) skills – the technique used in low cost and free Eye Clinics, revolutionised by Dr Ruit of Nepal. She finds doing surgery at charity camps to be an incredibly rewarding experience.
Dr. Oscar Budiman
is practising in 3 hospitals on a full time basis, rather than spending his weekend resting, he will jump at the first opportunity to join surgery events with us.
Col. Dr. M. Irsan, Rukun Sitepu, Nuah Barus, Afniwati, Rostiana Sitanggang
Colonel Dr. Muhammad Irsan
Is an army eye doctor who has been with A New Vision since the inception of our work in Indonesia. His role in advocating the professionalism and humanitarianism of Dr Ruit to the Indonesian Government and fellow eye doctors was pivotal in opening doors to allow A New Vision to successfully set up their first clinics. Colonel Irsan became Indonesia’s first doctor to be trained by Dr Ruit.
Because of his reputation as one of the country’s best cataract surgeons, Col. Irsan was one of two surgeons selected to accompany Indonesia President Jokowi on a January 2016 goodwill trip to East Timor, where he performed cataract surgery on East Timorese.
Col. Irsan honourably seeks to find solutions for all patients, including those for whom it is found cataract surgery is not appropriate. His compassion for his patients is visible always. In his free time, the easy going Col. Irsan loves cycling.
Rukun and Nuah
were the first two paramedics from Indonesia who went together with Dr. Irsan to Tilganga for training and they have always been by Dr. Irsan’s side, assisting in his every surgery. Rukun is a jovial guy who loves singing and has many passing hobbies, from planting flowers to collecting precious stones. Nuah is the strong man in the operating theatre, from pacifying terrified patients to lifting frail old one onto and off the operating bed.
Afniwati
We can breathe a sigh of relief when Afniwati is in charge of sterilisation. Her positive attitude and warm personality makes her a joy to work with. Always able to crack a joke and bring laughter even in challenging situation, e.g.. when our car broke down at 1am, in the middle of nowhere, half way through our 15 hours drive home. Or when she finally heard her phone ringing at midnight which was Dr. Irsan’s 27th call attempt asking her to take the 6am flight that day to Sidempuan, to urgently assist in our surgical camp.
Rostiana
Every patient loves Rostiana because she has the natural ability to break the ice and make people feel relaxed. Regardless of whether there are 10 patients or 100 patients waiting in the line, Rostiana gives each of them equal attention.
Soewandi Sudjiati
When we asked a common friend what Soewandi was like, we were told he is a social activist and that we couldn’t have found a better partner for East Java.
Not only did Soewandi link us to Nahdatul Ulama, the largest moderate Islamic association in Indonesia (40 million members), he has also been heavily involved in all of our East Java cataract surgical activities since 2013, looking for hospitals, meeting local authorities, gathering volunteers, distributing cataract flyers at markets.
As if that is not enough, he is now helping us to look for site for our first community eye center. No pressure, we want land accessible by all means of public transport, in flood free area, big and cheap. A calm, soft-spoken but firm, Soewandi is a man who talks the talk and walks the walk.
Elwi Jono
Elwi has been with us from our very first cataract surgical camp in Dec 2010. Back then, apart from Dr. Ruit, none of us knew anything about organizing cataract surgical camp.
Now, the only tasks Elwi can’t do at the camp are anaesthesia and surgery.
Elwi has a great sense of humor and she drinks water like hippopotamus. These two are essential qualities for the camp, to make sure everyone remains sane and no one is dehydrated.
When she is not busy with cataracts, she is busy in the kitchen running her home baking business (instagram dapur_kayumanis)
Elwi is the cousin of our founder, Effi. Many people often get these two mixed up even though they have two distinct different hairstyles.
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Emily Octiva (Treasurer/Bendahara ANV Indonesia)
Superbly capable and reliable, Emily joined our core team in 2013 after hearing stories about our work from her friend Theresia Sembiring.
Because of her capability, Emily is often given one of the hardest tasks, to manage the several hundred people crowd at registration desk. This is not a task for the faint hearted.
Emily is a wonderful volunteer who has no hesitation to do a task nobody likes, ie. data entry. Days after the camp was over, Emily would be sitting in her home, shifting through hundreds of patient records and entering them on excel. What more can we ask for?
Emily is a dog lover who is housing two rescued dogs. She is also pretty good at muay thai, if the dogs ever fail to protect her.
Dodi Saputra
Dodi is a young hard-working man and has been part of A New Vision core team since our first camp in Tapanuli region in 2011.
Dodi works as an office boy and he takes leave of absence whenever we have camps in Tapanuli to volunteer.
Caring and attentive, Dodi would volunteer to sleep at the hospital barrack, in case patients needed help in the middle of the night.
His family and friends are also part of our team, by regularly bringing patients from their local community to the camp.
Dodi pursued nursing school with Akademi Perawat at RST Putri Hijau Medan under full scholarship from ANV (2018-2021) and is now attending Mid Level Ophthalmic training at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Kathmandu since the start of 2022.
Alland Dharmawan
Alland heard a cataract outreach was being held in his city, so he rocked up with a camera and offered to help.
That was 2012.
From taking photos to training new volunteers and now, leading community education sessions, Alland is a reliable, competent and much-loved member of ANV.
We are amazed at his time management, in addition to an impressive list of academic achievement, he has a wide range of interests, from photography, volunteering, hiking, travelling and busy project work.
Alland is a young man who not only has a heart of gold but the ambition to change the world, especially fighting for environmental causes.
We see him as a future leader, whose voice will change the world and be an inspiration to many.
Read Alland’s blog article on why he volunteers: Why I Volunteer
Alland also wrote an article called A Precious gift called Sight
Lee Siew Yian
Meet our five-star volunteer, Siew Yian. She is an all-rounded, energetic and affable woman with a heart of gold. She came from Singapore to volunteer at A New Vision’s outreaches in rural parts of Indonesia. She is amicable and gets along well with everyone, including patients who don’t speak her language. Her sincerity and compassion were shown even in the littlest thing she does, such as distributing snacks to kids who were waiting for their relatives outside the surgery area until late at night, buying sandals for patients who came barefoot.
She is a ball of energy and never complaints that she is tired. Even when the surgeries lasted until late nights, she continued to be around, helping in the surgery rooms, interacting with patients, and motivating her fellow volunteers.
Her contributions towards A New Vision goes beyond volunteering during the surgical event. She speaks for us and raises funds by sharing stories on her Facebook friends about our patients, our work and our mission.
Theresia Sembiring
Here is Theresia, our prolific volunteer recruiter! A bright young lady with a big smile, conscientious and dependable.
Theresia has a Bachelor of Industrial and System Engineering Degree from the National University of Singapore, she left her corporate job in Singapore to return to Indonesia to do community work, and soon after she joined A New Vision.
Always hungry for knowledge, she applied for and was granted Chevening scholarship to pursue a Master of Arts in Development Studies at University of Sussex, UK. Not a surprise, this young lady has had scholarship after scholarship since primary school.
So passionate was her about A New Vision’s work that during her interview for Chevening scholarship, she could not stop talking about what we do until one interviewer had to pause her.
A fellow animal lover, Theresia has two cute rescued puppies and a young curious cat.
Alice Wijaya
Alice is a down to earth lady who does not believe in organizational boundaries when it comes to helping people. She has been doing charity work for decades, she is also the head of health services for Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation North Sumatra chapter and has her own Drs. Kofie Charity Foundation.
A New Vision has benefitted a lot from Alice’s helping hand especially in North Sumatra.
When one is with Alice, one would quickly notice that her phone hardly stops ringing and it is always about someone somewhere who is poor and sick and needs help.
A Buddhist believing in reincarnation, Alice always said she would like to be re-born to a similar life as she now has, in which she can continue to help others.
Dr. Haryoko Wihardjo
Age is not a barrier, at 76, Dr. Haryoko enjoys every single moment volunteering at surgical camp. He is usually in charged of our storeroom for dispensation of lenses and medicines. A thorough and cautious man, he makes sure he triple checks the power of the lens stated on the packaging against the patient’s form, before giving. But when the going gets tough, Dr. Haryoko is ready to leave the comfortable chair in the storeroom and gets on the road. He personally went to 5 districts in Nias island over 3 nights, just him and the driver, screening patients for eye diseases.
Tanty Edowati (Secretary/Sekertaris ANV Indonesia)
We met Tanty at our cataract outreach in Magelang in 2016, since then, Tanty’s house has also been the storage facility for ANV’s inventories.
Not only providing the space, Tanty also mobilises manpower when it comes to packing, dispatching and stocktaking. When we set up ANV Indonesia, Tanty generously agreed to be the foundation’s secretary.
Meng Mi
Meng Mi is a multi-talented and resourceful volunteer, she is also the one most willing to go to small towns to do screening and community education.
Everybody loves Meng Mi, for she is such a genuine lady, helpful and kind.
Meng Mi has been a constant figure at ANV Indonesia outreach since mid 2015s.
Surya Wijaya
Pak Surya is one of our oldest volunteers and has been volunteering with ANV since Dec 2009. He is everyone’s dad at outreach. His priority is people’s comfort, both patients and volunteers. Most importantly, that every one is well-fed.
Pak Surya is also the designer of our eye-catching ANV yellow vest.
Photo credits:
Lee Siew Yian, Alland Dharmawan, Afriadi Hikmal, Binsar Bakkara, Michael Amandolia, Debby Ng.
