“Flying eye hospital” Orbis makes stop in Singapore

Luis Miguel Sanchez. Age: 6 years. Diagnosis: Mature cataract (possible lentiglobus or traumatic injury earlier in life). Left Eye. Teaching case chosen for Week 2 in Trujillo, Peru, ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital Program. Surgeon: Dr. Daniel Neely, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana. SURGERY SUCCESSFUL. “Sanchez sustained a trauma to the head and eye approximately four years ago and subsequently also developed a cataract. This cataract was quite advanced with almost complete loss of vision from his left eye. This case posed a great challenge for the team to rehabilitate his vision. Despite the difficult nature of Sanchez’ cataract, his surgery was successful - he not only had the cataract removed but also an IOL implant placed. This will ensure that he has full use of both eyes and is not at risk for complete vision loss in the future,” said Dr. Neely. “Children in developing countries in general are at greatly increased risk of not only trauma to the eyes but very mature cataracts such as this and Sanchez was a prime example of it,” added Dr. Neely. -- Alongside its longtime global sponsor FedEX, the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital returned to Trujillo, Peru marking the third program in the northern city and eleventh program for ORBIS in Peru overall. This visit built on nearly 10 years of long-term, in-country programs addressing the prevalent causes of avoidable blindness through capacity building, community education, advocacy and quality patient care. In this three week program, ORBIS worked with its long-time partner, the Instituto Regional de Oftalmologia (IRO) to train 17 regional ophthalmologists in the diagnosis and management of Cornea, Glaucoma, Oculoplastics, Cataract (Phaco), Pediatric Strabismus, and Cataract Retina. 250 patients who suffer from issues of avoidable blindness were targeted for screening and treated through conventional surgery and laser treatments. -- ORBIS Flying

A plane arrived this week at Paya Lebar Airbase. But it is no ordinary aircraft. The Orbis plane, also known as the world’s only “flying eye hospital”, made its stop in Singapore this week to raise awareness about blindness.

Orbis, an international non-profit organisation, is primarily a teaching hospital which trains medical professionals from developing nations in eye care. It has so far travelled to 92 countries, providing hands-on training to medical professionals and better access to quality eye care, among other areas.

It also conducts operations for patients on board the aircraft while medical professionals watch and learn in an adjacent classroom through a live feed.

Orbis’ visit to Singapore marks the first time that its latest plane model- a third generation MD-10 plane- has landed in the Republic after hundreds of aircraft experts retrofitted it. The whole effort took six years.

The aircraft, which was open to the media on Friday, boasts a 46-seat classroom, an operating room as well as a patient care and laser treatment room, among other features.

Apart from having a longer flight range of 6,000 nautical miles which will enable it to fly longer distances, the plane’s live broadcast capabilities will also better train doctors and nurses with live footage in 3D.

According to the World Health Organisation, 285 million people in the word are visually impaired. Yet, about 80 per cent of these cases are preventable.

Orbis has, in the last five years, trained over 115,000 doctors and other medical professionals. Over 340,000 eye surgeries have been performed for patients during that same period.

“The Flying Eye Hospital plays a vital role in Orbis’ mission to bring the world together to fight blindness,” said Mr Paul Forrest, Chief Development Officer of Orbis International.

“Our launch of this new third-generation Flying Eye Hospital not only marks a new chapter in our shared sight-saving journey, but also brings us a significant step closer to our dream of eliminating avoidable blindness forever.”

Apart from helping to retrofit the plane, FedEx also announced in June this year that it was renewing its five-year US$5.375 million (S$7.66 million) commitment to Orbis. That includes providing aircraft services and sponsoring fellowships for ophthalmologists to study in leading global eye institutes.