John Anderson

In typically matter of fact style, John Anderson, known as Jock to his friends, liked to say that he worked to prevent people from starving. Dr Anderson, an ophthalmologist and world authority in trachoma, who spent a good part of 30 years practising in the developing world, was always quick to point out that without sight his patients could not work, and without work they would not eat.

John Anderson (left) would drive to Kabul airport to chase up deliveries of corneas

His most obvious legacy is the 100 bed eye hospital that he established in Kabul in 1968; the clinic has survived the brutal vicissitudes of Afghanistan's past four decades and is still saving the sight of thousands of people every year.

John Anderson was born in Redbourne, Lincolnshire, in 1924. At 16 he began dedicating a …