MANILA - The “flying eye hospital” of a United States-based charitable organization has returned to the Philippines to give the gift of sight to needy Filipinos.
Aboard Orbis International’s flying hospital, which touched down on August 27 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, was a team of dedicated eye-care professionals, nurses, and technicians, as well as aviators, who travel from one developing country to another to provide free eye surgery and training.
Orbis, conceived in the 1970s by a Texan ophthalmologist and the daughter of an airline owner, is a nonprofit NGO that focuses on blindness prevention and the treatment of eye diseases in Third World countries.
The flying hospital is a refurbished McDonnell Douglas DC-10 jet. It is now parked at the Aegis Aviation hangar at the Naia.
The plane has been reconfigured to accommodate surgical and training equipment and operations and commenced with its eye-care program Wednesday.
The doctors will perform sight-saving surgery. It will also conduct skills exchange programs with the local ophthalmic community.
Running until September 10, the program includes advanced training in ophthalmic care focusing on pediatric eye diseases, cataracts, oculoplastics, and medical retina.
Three of the flying hospital’s staff are Filipinos—ophthalmologists Bernadette Martinez and Joanne Barleta, and nurse Leonardo Mercado.
The flying hospital boasts a 48-seat classroom at the front of the plane, where the doctors can gather for discussions and live broadcasts of surgical procedures performed in an adjacent operating room.
Prior to a visit by the flying hospital, local doctors pre-select patients according to what the program can do for them.
Priority is given to children, individuals who are bilaterally blind, and representative teaching cases. Filipino doctors oversee the patients before, during, and after surgery.
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