“We can do 5-6 cases a day, if they are all local,” says nurse Leonardo Mercardo, who has been working with Orbis for 21 years, in the pre and post-operation room at the rear of the plane. It can fly twice as long as its predecessor, has its own water treatment plant and air conditioning systems, while also housing a 46-seat classroom, sterilization room and operating room that uses 3D technology and live broadcast systems which allow local participants to observe surgeries while they are taking place. The “next generation” MD-10 is the third incarnation of the flying hospital, which was born in 1982 with a grant from the US Agency for International Development and a number of private donors. And about 90 per cent of the world’s 285 million visually impaired people live in developing countries. Of the 39 million people worldwide that are blind, 32 million cases (80 per cent) are avoidable, the main causes being cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. I love going to work in the local hospitals – that’s more challenging – as well as as operating on the plane, to work with whatever equipment they have and help other people develop their services in that environment.” “If I squint I could be back at home at King’s. “This is exactly the same machine I have at work,” he told i from the operating room at the centre of the plane on a guided tour of the Flying Eye Hospital this week. You want to do something more.”ĭr Jonathan Lord, global medical director, Orbis InternationalĮye care teams in Africa, Asia and Latin America all have the chance to further their training and skills under the tutelage of volunteers such as Dr Ian Fleming, a consultant anaesthetist at King’s College London who spends two weeks of his paid holiday every year to work with Orbis. But there comes a point in life when you feel that normal routine you do isn’t enough.
0 kommentar(er)
