Flying Eye Hospital lands in Rwanda

Charity Orbis has officially begun a two-week training project in Rwanda that is designed to aid the prevention of blindness and the delivery of eye care across the country.

The charity’s Flying Eye Hospital, alongside volunteers, arrived in Kigali on Friday (18 July) and began transforming the plane into a fully equipped teaching hospital to train local doctors, nurses, anaesthetists and engineers in the latest eye care techniques.

While the trip marks the 84^th country that the Flying Eye Hospital has visited since its first flight in 1982, it is the first time the charity has landed in Rwanda.

Rwanda has just 30 eye doctors serving a population of 13 million. Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in the country, yet 30% of people referred for surgery cannot get treatment, and only half of those who need spectacles have them.

During the first week of training, which began on Monday (21 July) and is supported by the Alcon Foundation, the team will focus on simulation training utilising virtual reality (VR) tools created by Orbis and FundamentalVR, to allow the trainees to practise cataract surgery safely.

Through the training, local doctors will learn manual small-incision cataract surgery, which is widely used in low-resource settings, as well as the more advanced phacoemulsification method.

When the project concludes, the charity will donate the VR tools used in training to the Rwanda International Institute of Ophthalmology. It is hoped that they will be used to train future professionals in these techniques.

A statement from Orbis highlighted: “Many eye problems in Rwanda are preventable or treatable. But with low public awareness and few specialists, millions still struggle with poor vision.

“That’s why it’s crucial to continue our work, and why the Flying Eye Hospital’s first visit to Rwanda marks a powerful milestone and opportunity to usher in a new era of eye care.”