Eyecare charity touches down

Ophthalmologist Larry Benjamin trains local eye surgeons in Vietnam for charity Orbis

A team of volunteers used virtual reality to help local surgeons develop their skills when Orbis’s Flying Eye Hospital reached Vietnam last month.

Tools including prosthetic eyes and life-like mannequins enable eyecare professionals to practise techniques repeatedly, in a way that can’t be done with live patients. 

Ophthalmologist Larry Benjamin has been volunteering since 2004 for the charity, which fights avoidable blindness. He said: “One of the very impressive things with Orbis is their philosophy of teaching local people how to do the surgery rather than just doing it themselves. The principle really is to leave something behind that can grow. The trainees were able to practise things that are difficult on real patients and ask questions as we went along. 

“They all ended up doing things they had never tried before and felt that they had accomplished a lot. Leading simulator training is harder than it sounds as it is important to tailor each session to the individual needs of the surgeons with different experiences. That is one aspect of simulator training that I really enjoy – working out who needs what and then delivering it in a way that enables them all to progress.”

Working with other eye care professionals allows Larry to experience first-hand the difficulties they face and tailor his teaching to treat preventable eye conditions, such as cataracts.

“Watching surgeons develop new techniques is always rewarding. The model eyes I used with the trainees allows most aspects of the surgery to be practised as often as is necessary and I also try to instil in the trainees, no matter how experienced they are, they can carry on with simulator training in their own units by using the model eyes. 

“Whenever they learn a new technique, they should always practise on a model eye first – for the rest of their working lives.”

More than 400 ophthalmologists, nurses, anaesthetists and biomedical engineers from over 30 countries volunteer with Orbis, sharing their skills with local teams around the world. 

The charity operates the only fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital on board an aircraft, and an award-winning telemedicine platform, Cybersight. There are 1.1bn people living with vision loss and the number is set to triple by 2050. Yet 90 per cent is treatable or preventable. 

Find out how you can support Orbis here.