Dr. Hovsepyan’s Story

The Man Behind the Mobile Eye Hospital

Dr. Asatur Hovsepyan has been with the Armenian EyeCare Project since our Mobile Eye Hospital (MEH) arrived in Armenia in 2002. He was named Chief Surgeon and Medical Director of the MEH by Dr. Roger Ohanesian (AECP Founder) and Dr. Alex Malayan (Chief Ophthalmologist at the Malayan Ophthalmological Hospital in Yerevan.)

As medical director of the MEH, Asatur travels to the remote regions of Armenia and is away from home six months of the year — missing his wife, Sousanna, and their four children.

Working morning through midnight, the MEH often completes 24 surgeries a day. Since 2002, the MEH has completed 13,000 surgeries — most of them cataracts — with Asatur performing 9,000 of them himself. He has gained the trust of the people and the local governments throughout the regions and he enjoys widespread popularity. The patients adore Asatur and bestow words of thanks and blessings upon him when the bandages are removed following surgery. For most of his patients, it is the first time they have seen the faces of their family members in years.