L.B. BRILLIANT From September through November, 1980, the selection, hiring, and training of the large survey staff of nearly 100 persons was carefully managed by Dr. Grasset, Dr. Pokhrel, and Mr. H. L. Mon- ga, the WHO administrative officer of the project, with help from Mr. Hari Har Acharya, an anthropologist-trainer, and Suzanne Gilbert of the Seva Foundation, who also helped design the ancillary trachoma studies used in the survey. During this time, Dr. Kolstad drafted the examiner's manual, trained survey ophthalmologists in standardized diagnoses, reviewed clinical equipment and supply needs, and helped draft final versions of the ophthalmological protocol as well as acting as chief survey ophthalmologist. He also devised a simplified trachoma grading system that was used in the survey. The ten ophthalmologists from five countries who worked on the survey are truly scientific coinvestigators of the ophthalmic studies in the survey; whatever useful information will come off of the Nepal Blindness Survey is largely the result of their efforts. The ten ophthalmologists who worked in the survey are Drs. R. P. Pokhrel (Nepal); A. Kolstad (Norway); R. Pararajasegaram (Sri Lanka); R. K. Koirala (Nepal); 0. K. Malla (Nepal); K. Konyama (Japan); S. K. Khatri (Nepal); W. Hawks (United States); K. Biswas (Nepal); and B. K. Malla (Nepal). A special word of thanks is appropriate for Dr. Pararajasegaram, who suffered a broken foot during a visit to one survey site (he was one of three ophthalmologists to be injured while trekking in the rugged terrain of Nepal). "Para" refused to return home for medical care despite the fact that his temporary cast and crutches made it impossible to hike to remote village sites. For the next four months, Para acted as consultant ophthalmologist for the survey, carefully reviewing all completed forms for errors and consulting with returning field ophthalmologists to resolve any inconsistencies found on review. I do not know how we could have carried out a survey of this complexity without Para's competence, wit, and charm. During this time, Mr. S. R. Shretha acted both as survey statis- tician and fieldwork coordinator, helping recruit, train, and super- vise the six Nepalese supervisors who segmented sites and oversaw the quality of work in the field: Mr. Devendra Ghotane, Mr. Mukundas Shrestha, Mr. Madan Tandukar, Mr. Mahesh Ram Joshi, Mr. Prithvi Gurung, and Mr. S. K. Adhikari. Since many of the villages visited during the survey, especially in the mountains, were being visited by doctors for the first time, it was essential that residents receive medical care for whatever illnesses they had, regardless of whether or not they were related to
