FedEx celebrates sight-saving relationship on World Sight Day

World Sight Day, a yearly occasion to promote eye health worldwide, is today. It’s also a day for those of us at Orbis, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing avoidable blindness, to express our gratitude to the kind donors and sponsors who make our work possible.

We would like to express our gratitude to FedEx for supporting our effort to end preventable blindness for more than 30 years. They have contributed to our unique Flying Eye Hospital, a fully licenced teaching hospital on a plane, making it possible for underserved communities worldwide to receive ophthalmic training and care. The third-generation Flying Eye Hospital’s MD-10 aircraft, which FedEx donated, is actually flown by volunteer FedEx pilots.

Simply put, the Flying Eye Hospital could not perform its sight-saving work without the assistance of FedEx. Add in the provision of aircraft parts, maintenance, and pilot training. I’ve witnessed this often in my capacity as director of the Flying Eye Hospital, notably during the epidemic, when FedEx’s contributions enabled us to continue our virtual training even as in-person training was put on hold.

World Sight Day

Most recently, FedEx funded a 10-week virtual Flying Eye Hospital initiative that taught Vietnamese eye doctors how to treat glaucoma, the nation’s top cause of blindness and visual loss. It is crucial that local doctors acquire top-notch training because Vietnam continues to struggle with a lack of eye care specialists and restricted access to high-quality eye care.

The May-launched project, which was conducted in Vietnamese, included pre-learning modules on our Cybersight telemedicine platform, live interactive lectures given by our Volunteer Faculty (medical professionals), and cutting-edge simulation training. In order to improve surgical outcomes, surgeons can practise their techniques on manikins or other devices prior to performing procedures on actual patients. This innovative skill-building approach is known as simulation training.

FedEx sponsored a virtual Flying Eye Hospital project in China in 2021, and we are so proud of the positive impact they helped us have there. Thankfully, on this World Sight Day, we can rejoice that, in addition to our ongoing virtual projects, the Flying Eye Hospital is once again taking to the skies and providing in-person training to eye care teams everywhere.