‘Flying eye hospital’ trains Filipino, SEA specialists in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Dozens of Southeast Asian eye care specialists are learning the latest methods to fight blindness and other eye maladies on a "flying eye hospital" plane in Malaysia, organizers said yesterday.

The two-week training aboard ORBIS International’s hospital, a converted DC-10 aircraft with operating rooms and volunteer doctors, began Monday at the Kuching city airport in Malaysia’s eastern Sarawak state on Borneo island, an ORBIS statement said.

Participants include 60 ophthalmologists from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore, as well as about 120 Malaysian nurses and health workers.

"We aim to bring quality eye health care services to where the need is greatest, while raising public awareness in the region in an effort to prevent future avoidable blindness," said the hospital’s director, Drew Boshell.

"Over the two-week program, several surgeries will be carried out on the flying eye hospital to expose ophthalmologists from all over Southeast Asia to the latest sight-saving techniques," Boshell said.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said the training underscores the benefits of cooperation among medical professionals, especially by showing them that "they are no longer isolated and have a link with other parts of the world."

The stop in Sarawak was the flying hospital’s first in Malaysian territory on Borneo island. The New York-based charity estimates it has trained more than 124,000 doctors, nurses and other health workers in trips to more than 70 developing countries since 1982.

Sponsors of the current training mission include Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, Petronas, as well as the operator of the country’s airports, Malaysia Airports Bhd.