ORBIS flying eye hospital in Morocco

The ORBIS flying eye hospital is currently in Morocco's imperial city of Fez to perform several surgical operations on elderly and children. The ORBIS flying hospital, which arrived in Morocco on Monday part of its 1999 program, is a DC-10 jet which has been converted into a self-contained teaching eye hospital.

The plane contains a classroom, audio-visual room, editing room, laser/examination room, conference room, operating room, sub-sterile and scrub room, recovery room, and communication center. The lower level of the plane houses a technical training and maintenance center.

ORBIS, a non-profit, humanitarian organization, works in developing countries to save sight through hands-on training, public health education and improved access to eye care.

After a week-long mission in Fes, the ORBIS flying hospital will go to Casablanca for a similar medical task.

The aircraft flies to developing countries bringing practical, hands-on training to local eye doctors, nurses, technicians and health care workers and restoring sight to thousands.

Since 1982, ORBIS has completed more than 390 programs in 79 countries. It has trained 46,000 ophthalmologists, nurses, biomedical engineers and other health care workers who, in turn, provide treatment and training in their countries.

Worldwide, more than 22,500 patients have been directly treated by ORBIS volunteer doctors and more than six million people have received eye care from ORBIS-trained doctors.