Orbis Flying Eye Hospital

Founded by the leaders of the medical and aviation industries in 1973, Orbis started its work on a plane — a fully equipped mobile teaching hospital.

At that point in time, the expense of tuition and international travel prevented most doctors and nurses in developing countries from training overseas. Our founders and donors brought the school to the doctors, by building a Flying Eye Hospital into the frame of a DC-8 aircraft. In 1982, this aircraft took to the air for the first time. The second generation Flying Eye Hospital, the DC-10, took flight in 1994, and the latest third generation MD-10, in 2017.

This plane is like no other. The Flying Eye Hospital is the world’s only ophthalmic teaching hospital onboard an aircraft. It features a state-of-the-art, fully accredited eye hospital, complete with an operating room, patient care and laser room, pre- and post-operative care room, sterilization/substerile room, observation room, classroom, administration room and audiovisual/IT room with 3D broadcast technology that can transmit live surgeries around the world.

Dr Manish Nagpal has been working on a voluntary basis with ORBIS for many years . He has been on a field visit with orbis in 2018 to Chittagong, Bangladesh to train to perform surgery and teach the local eye surgeons in Vitreo Retina Speciality.