Flying eye hospital in Iloilo, Bacolod

MANILA, Philippines - At the invitation of the Western Visayas Local Committee on Sight Preservation and with the generous sponsorship of FedEx, ORBIS International landed its flagship Flying Eye Hospital – a converted DC-10 and the world’s only ophthalmic surgical and training hospital with wings – in Iloilo. ORBIS will conduct a three-week medical program to increase the clinical and surgical abilities of local eye care providers in the Western Visayas Region.

This will be the Flying Eye Hospital’s 11th program in the Philippines since 1982, celebrating 30 years of sight-saving work.

For two weeks in Iloilo, in partnership with the Western Visayas Medical Center, the ORBIS medical team will conduct an intensive skills exchange program for eye care professionals and deliver sight-saving surgeries to pre-screened patients suffering from visual impairment. On the third week, ORBIS will complement and reinforce this training by extending its medical program to include a hospital-based program in Bacolod, in partnership with the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.

“ORBIS is excited to conduct its first Flying Eye Hospital program of 2012 in the Western Visayas Region of the Philippines,” said David Johnson, Flying Eye Hospital director. “With our 30-year history in the Philippines, we continue to build and strengthen the capacity of our local partners in this region. Together with FedEx and our local partners, we will address the leading and emerging causes of blindness, including cataract, diabetic retinopathy and pediatric eye disease, while we continue to raise awareness of avoidable blindness.”

As part of a global initiative to combat preventable and treatable blindness, and in support of ORBIS International’s skills exchange program approach, FedEx will award a fellowship to a promising ophthalmologist from the Philippines to study at a leading global eye institute.

The 2010 FedEx Fellow, Dr. Buenjim Mariano, from St. Luke’s Medical Center’s International Eye Institute in Manila, recently completed his one-year neuro-ophthalmology fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.

ORBIS International is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization dedicated to saving sight worldwide. ORBIS prevents and treats blindness through hands-on training, public health education, improved access to quality eye care, and partnerships with local health care organizations in an effort to eliminate avoidable blindness.