The city of Kolkata will soon host the world’s only flying eye hospital.
A team of doctors, aboard a modified aircraft, are scheduled to land in Kolkata, popularly known as the City of Joy, on September 9, 2013. This team will not only impart training to local ophthalmologists but also perform advanced surgeries onboard.
2nd Visit to Kolkatta
The hospital, a venture of US-based NGO Orbis, will stay in the third-most populous metropolitan area in India for a fortnight thus benefitting scores of people.
“In India, Orbis has focused on childhood blindness. We have had a full time presence on ground since 2000. To support that initiative, the flying hospital will arrive in Kolkata Sep 9,” Rahul Ali, Orbis country director, was quoted as saying in the IANS.
Since its inception in 1982, the flying hospital has made visits to more than 90 countries across the world. Orbis had earlier visited Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, in 2005.
Four Local Hospitals Roped In
Four local institutions; Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Susrut Eye foundation, Disha Eye Hospital and Sankara Nethralaya, will work in connivance with the flying hospital. Some of the surgeries will be performed onboard while the others will be carried out in the local institutions.
The team of experts will also answer queries from other doctors, nurses, biomedical engineers, anesthesiologists and paramedics.
“It takes longer to perform the surgeries as the experts answer the questions posed by trainees. In two weeks, we will perform about 60-odd surgeries. Additional 20 have been selected for laser procedures. Different components of the training will take place at different host institutes,” said Ali.
The patients have already been pre-selected and their details are uploaded on the web telemedicine portal Cyber-Sight.
