ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia—With an invitation from the Mongolia Ministry of Health, Orbis International, a global eyecare nonprofit organization, announced it is conducting a three-week training project from Aug. 4-22 onboard the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, the only fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital located on a plane. The project aims to build the skills of local eyecare teams, strengthen the ability of partner hospitals to deliver care, and raise awareness about eye health in Mongolia, according to the announcement.

This project marks the ninth time the Flying Eye Hospital has held a training project in Mongolia, Orbis said, with the first taking place in 1989 and the most recent in 2018. Orbis also hosted four virtual Flying Eye Hospital projects in Mongolia when in-person training was not possible due to COVID-19. Training activities will occur on the Flying Eye Hospital, currently located at Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport, and at two partner hospitals, the National Center for Maternal and Child Health, and Third Central Hospital.

During the training, Orbis clinical staff and volunteer faculty will guide participants in simulation training, hands-on surgical training and patient care, and ophthalmic workshops. The goal, according to Orbis, is to improve local eye teams' skills and the care they can provide for patients in the ophthalmic subspecialties of pediatric cataract, strabismus, oculoplastics, adult glaucoma and surgical retina. The training will also cover skills in the fields of anesthesiology, nursing and biomedical engineering.

 
 Rose, 4, is screened by an Orbis-trained doctor in Ulaanbaatar following a successful surgery. Photo courtesy of Geoff Oliver Bugbee
  
"We are grateful for our partnerships with the Ministry of Health, the National Center for Maternal and Child Health, and Third Central Hospital. Together, we have been able to increase access to quality eyecare throughout the country," said Dr. Chimgee Chuluunkhuu, country director of Orbis Mongolia. "The Alcon Foundation, FedEx and OMEGA are very important partners for Orbis, and we are grateful for their indispensable support of this project and support of Orbis's mission around the world."

The Alcon Foundation has been a supporter of Orbis for more than 40 years, providing monetary donations for the Flying Eye Hospital. Alcon has provided additional support to the Flying Eye Hospital and Orbis Mongolia through donations of state-of-the-art ophthalmic equipment, surgical products and supplies through Alcon Cares. Alcon's expert biomedical engineers and trainers—who participate in Orbis programs, sharing their skills and knowledge to help program participants learn to operate and maintain critical medical technology—will lead a biomedical engineering workshop in Ulaanbaatar during the current project. Most recently, Alcon supported the Flying Eye Hospital project held in Zambia in 2023.

"Alcon sees a world where treatable, preventable conditions that affect individuals' eye health receive the attention they need, when they need it, regardless of geography, gender, age or socioeconomic status," said Charles Herget, president, Alcon Cares. "We know that the only way to make quality eyecare more available and accessible is by cultivating self-sustaining eye health ecosystems and developing well-trained eyecare teams. That's why we're proud to support Orbis and its programs that tackle avoidable vision loss by building strong and sustainable eyecare systems worldwide."