Last week The HUB announced that the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital will be displayed at Al Bateen Executive Airport during this year’s World Routes Event and will be available for delegate tours during the event week. Here, we give you an insight into a typical week for the Flying Eye Hospital and the invaluable work carried out by ORBIS.
Day 1 – Screening Day
The ORBIS Volunteer doctor or nurse and the local trainee will meet for the first time. ORBIS is meticulous about matching up the doctors to facilitate a strong partnership that maximises the training experience. Very often the doctors have been emailing or faxing one another discussing the cases, training requirements and any resource needs, but this is usually the first time the doctors will meet in person.
The local team will have prepared a list of approximately 30 cases that they have been unable to treat – either due to lack of skills, fully functioning equipment or both. The two doctors will then systematically go through the list and assess each patient’s suitability for treatment.
As there are normally three training partnerships in any one week, the hospital can expect somewhere in the region of 100 patients plus family on screening day. Inevitably word gets out about the foreign doctors and many more patients can turn up in the hope that they will be seen. We try and ensure patients that present themselves at the hospital will be seen regardless of whether they were invited.
Between them the volunteer and local doctors prepare medical notes for all the patients that were seen. It is a long day.
Patients are selected strictly on the basis of the best teaching cases, inevitably this means that not everyone can be treated, making this an emotionally charged day. But the team will be better able to treat the other patients themselves, in future. Once the doctors decide who will undergo surgery, the patients are seen by the Anaesthetist to ensure that they are physically fit enough. This can be an issue in countries where people are under-nourished.
A detailed surgery schedule is planned out by the ORBIS crew, with operations taking place over the week both onboard the Flying Eye Hospital and in the local hospital.
Day 2– Surgery
One of the training partnerships will be operating onboard the Flying Eye Hospital, whilst the others will be operating in the local hospitals. The ORBIS operating room is situated over the wings of the aircraft – the most stable part, and is fitted with six cameras that project images to the lecture theatre, in what was the first class section of the plane. Up to 48 doctors can view the surgery and question the doctors and procedure throughout. Prior to surgery, the ORBIS volunteer and the local doctor will address the gathered ophthalmologists in the lecture theatre, explaining what they are about to do and to encourage the doctors to seek clarification on any unclear issues.
Surgery will commence with both the ORBIS volunteer and the local doctor wearing microphones to enable discussion with the lecture theatre. The whole team participates as trainees in nursing and anaesthesia pair up with international volunteers. Surgery normally takes twice the time that the procedure would take ‘back home’ due to the training element. At the beginning of the week, the ORBIS volunteer doctor will lead the surgery but by the end of the week it will be the local doctor conducting surgery, mentored and guided by the volunteer.
Once the patient has recovered from the anaesthesia, they will return to the local hospital to convalesce.
Day 3 – Post Operation
The ORBIS Volunteer and local doctor will meet at the local hospital to conduct a post operation examination on all the patients that received treatment the previous day. This is the most rewarding moment – when the bandage is removed and the patient can see.
In the afternoon the doctors may be performing surgery in the local hospital or giving a series of lectures either at the hospital or the local university.
Days 4 and 5 – Surgery and Lectures
The ORBIS volunteer and local doctors will continue to perform surgeries, examine patients post operatively, and conduct and attend didactic lectures.
As our official charity partner, Routes is working with ORBIS to raise funds for the next generation Flying Eye Hospital. If you would like to donate to help eliminate avoidable blindness around the world please click here and become part of the solution!
Click here to book your free place on one of the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital Tours, taking place during World Routes in Abu Dhabi.
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