Eye Department KCMC Newsletter
Issue 1 Volume 5 Serial 15 30 March 2015
Orbis International
and the Flying Eye Hospital
Orbis International is an
American NGO dedicated to eye healthcare improvement world wide. It was founded
in 1980 and by 1982 they had started its flagship programme, the Flying Eye
Hospital. Orbis is also dedicated to Human Resource Development for Eye Health
through its Hospital Based Programmes.
In Ethiopia where Orbis had been
quite active, they have managed to set up an “Eye Bank”. An Eye Bank is
essentially a Cornea Bank, whereby organs harvested from donors are placed
until they can be used by recipients. This is a big achievement since most of
Sub-Saharan African countries have not being able to cross this important
threshold of domestic harvesting and transplantation of human organs. Into play
came Orbis’s ability to lobby and advocate at the level of higher echelons of
decision making.
The Flying Eye Hospital is a Mc
Donnel Douglas DC-10 wide body jet on loan from Fedex that is fitted with an
Operating Theatre, an Auditorium and other supporting facilities to enable
observers to see in real time eye surgeries being performed, and interact with
the surgeons by hearing the verbal narrative from the surgeon and be able to
ask questions.
The Flying Eye Hospital had
visited Tanzania twice, in 2003 and 2008. During the 2008 visit I was able to
participate in the activities offered which included: Continuous Curveliniar
Capsulorrhexis Simulation, Phacoemulsification Cataract Extraction on Animal
Eye in a Wet Laboratory, Direct Observation of Lens Washout using the Vitrector
Probe and Anterior Vitrectomy using Scissors.
In September 2016, the Flying Eye
Hospital will be coming to Kilimanjaro International Airport for 2 weeks, this
will be opportunity for all tiers of eye cadres to observe different types of
surgeries and ask questions directly to the surgeon. Parallel to this, Orbis
will be organizing Biomedical Workshop for biomedical technicians from Tanzania
and COECSA countries.
There will also be workshops for
ophthalmic nurses and anaesthetists. There workshops aim at sharing the current
best practices and offer opportunity to learning new things. However it is the
ophthalmologists, ophthalmology residents and the assistant medical officers
ophthalmology who will benefit most from both the Flying Eye Hospital and the
Hospital Based Programme, where know-how will be transferred from experts in
their fields to the participants. We expect involvement from all the COECSA
countries.
George Kabona, Gilbert Mrema, William Makupa and Honest Maro on the
landing of the Orbis International DC-10 Hospital Plan in Dar es Salaam July
2008.
Celestine Habyakare, Ahmed Attas, William Makupa and the late Hemed
Kilima at the landing of Orbis International DC-10 Hospital Plane in Dar es
Salaam July 2008
Editor: W. Makupa, Eye Department KCMC, P.O.Box 3010 Moshi – Tanzania
Tel: +255 784 332 667 Fax: +255 27 275 4381 Email: makupauw@yahoo.com
Corneal curvature and thickness is measured using keratometer
ReplyDeleteand pachymeterThe transplantation of donor cornea thathas undergone refractive surgery (LASIK, RK, PRK) can lead to both wound separation during surgery and to increased refractive
error in the recipient.