19 Jebsen colleagues paid a visit to the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital in HK on February 24, 2024.
The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital is unlike any plane you’ve seen before. A state-of-the-art teaching facility complete with operating room, classroom and recovery room – this amazing aircraft has been a beacon of hope since 1982.
Introduction of Orbis Flying Eye Hospital
Jebsen spent approximately RMB 800,000, accounting for 16% of Project Morning Star Phase 1 donation for the revamp of the third-generation Flying Eye Hospital.
The Flying Eye Hospital is not only packed with the latest medical equipment, it has some of the very latest training facilities, too. The entire plane is linked up through an advanced audio visual system, meaning those in the classroom can watch surgeries happening in the operating theatre live in 3D – making it as close to the real thing as looking down the microscope yourself.
The expert volunteers train local medical professionals both on board the aircraft and at the local partner hospital, providing education that is both high-quality and practical for when the Flying Eye Hospital departs. And thanks to the telemedicine platform – Cybersight – doctors from all over the world can join Orbis’s training programmes with the click of a button.
Han is the first patient to step on board the Flying Eye Hospital for surgery since the start of the pandemic.
Five-year-old Han from Can Tho City, Vietnam is the first patient to step on board the Flying Eye Hospital for surgery since the start of the pandemic.
Since birth, Han had suffered from a condition called ptosis — a drooping eyelid that affected the vision in her left eye. As a result, this young girl was quiet and subdued and reluctant to play with other kids. Han’s mother, Loan, thought her daughter’s problems were behind her after undergoing surgery at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Unfortunately for Han and her family, the complicated surgery didn’t go as planned and her vision remained obscured.
After all Flying Eye Hospital projects were paused in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team of Volunteer Faculty and staff were excited to be back in action — treating patients like Han and sharing skills with local eye teams so even more kids can get the care they need long after the plane has gone.
Han and her mother Loan traveled two hours by motorbike to get to the plane. On board, her drooping eyelid was successfully treated, ensuring a future of clear sight for this intelligent young girl.
Dr. H. Joon Kim, the skilled surgeon who performed Han’s procedure, understands the profound impact such surgeries have on children. She tells that,”children with droopy eyelids are often so shy. It’s amazing how this condition can really impact their social interaction. Once you get their eyelid lifted, they don’t have to tilt their chin up to see anymore, they can walk normally, they are not perceived as having some sort of deformity or syndrome. And it’s amazing how they start to make eye contact all of a sudden – and their interactions change. So, it’s really not just about lifting the eyelid, it’s about having a life-long impact on their social lives and their behaviour altogether. You get to change their lives with a very straightforward and simple surgery – and that’s what I love doing every single day, seeing that transformation,” said Dr. Kim.
With her improved vision, Han will go back to school once her surgical scars have healed. And after years of being too shy to play with the other kids, Loan believes Han will now be more confident than ever.
