Inside the world’s only flying eye hospital: The engineering marvel saving sight across 84 countries

Dubai: When most people think of an aircraft, they picture passengers and pilots. But for Valerie Suberg, Senior Manager of Aircraft Maintenance at Orbis International, the world’s only Flying Eye Hospital, keeping a widebody jet equipped as a surgical theatre airborne is a mission that goes far beyond aviation.

“I go everywhere the airplane goes,” says Suberg, who has been with Orbis since 2016. “There are three of us mechanics on board, and we’re responsible for making sure this hospital in the sky can do what it’s meant to — restore sight,” Suberg told Gulf News ahead of World Sight Day (October 9).

And this is not your typical cargo plane. Inside its fuselage, where packages once travelled, now sits a fully accredited American hospital – complete with operating theatres, simulation labs, and state-of-the-art medical equipment, treating patients with vision-related disorders.

The mobile hospital recently made a pit stop for a goodwill visit and to restock supplies in Dubai.

Dubai, Suberg says, is one of the best places in the world for a restock. “Dubai is really nice to us,” she smiles. “They give us free parking, quick shipping, and no customs hassles. It’s an easy place to be.”

At each stop, the aircraft is loaded with donated medical supplies — everything from anaesthetic kits to eye surgery lasers. “Six months before each programme, the doctors decide what surgeries they’ll perform. The supplies arrive here, and we fly them to the next country,” she explains.

Founded in 1982, Orbis International is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to preventing and treating avoidable blindness through training, education, and access to quality eye care.

Today, the ophthalmic hospital and teaching facility is located on board a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft. Orbis brings ophthalmic training and treatment (for common disorders such as glaucoma or cataract) directly to countries where specialised eye care is limited – from Rwanda to the Philippines.

Since it was founded by Dr David Paton, a US ophthalmologist, Orbis has supported the establishment or improvement of 60 tertiary hospitals, 280 secondary eye hospitals, over 800 primary eye care centers and health facilities, nearly 160 vision centers, and over 75 pediatric eye care centers.

Each Orbis project lasts about 3-4 weeks, where volunteer teams of doctors and nurses treat patients and train teams of doctors.

This particular aircraft has a fascinating history. Built in 1973 as a DC-10 in Long Beach, California, this aircraft spent decades hauling cargo for FedEx before finding its true calling in 2016.

“I actually worked on this plane when it was a FedEx plane, and I worked on the Orbis DC-10 from 2002 to 2004," said Suberg. The transformation from cargo carrier to medical marvel took six years of planning after FedEx donated the aircraft in 2012.

"Everything from here to that wall is modified," Suberg explains, gesturing towards the flight deck. "It took six years to figure out how we were going to modify it."

The hospital’s heart lies in nine purpose-built containers that make up the entire medical facility. Designed and constructed by MMIC, a company specialising in mobile medical units, each container was built off-site in Maine, United States, before being shipped to Victorville, California, for final assembly.

"None of the hospital is connected to the airplane. It's all freight," Suberg notes. This ingenious design means the entire hospital setup can theoretically be transferred to another aircraft if needed.

The conversion wasn't just about installing medical equipment. The aircraft required completely new systems – from HEPA filters in every room to create positive pressure environments, to silver hoses carrying medical gases, to cooling systems perched atop each container.

"We carry our own ground equipment, so we carry generators to power the airplane, to power the hospital, air conditioning, chiller units to power the hospital," Suberg said.

"We have about 17 pilots that fly for us, and when they fly for us, they're Orbis pilots," Suber says. FedEx's support extends beyond just pilot volunteers – the company also provided a simulator and donated two empty aircraft for spare parts.

Contrary to what one might expect, the Flying Eye Hospital isn't primarily about performing as many surgeries as possible. It is mostly about teaching local doctors to prevent blindness in their own communities long after the aircraft departs.

"Everything is about training," said one of the biomedical engineers on board. During a typical three-week programme, the first week focuses entirely on simulation training.

Sophisticated surgical simulators allow doctors to practise cataract surgery hundreds of times. The training also targets doctors at various skill levels.

During weeks two and three, between 30 to 40 actual surgeries take place – split between the aircraft and partner hospitals on the ground. But these aren't just procedures; there are also teaching opportunities broadcast live to classrooms on board and via the organisation’s Cyber-Sight platform.

"We have four to six seats up here, but we project on Cyber-Sight. Anybody with a phone and internet can join the training. So, you might have as many as 40 countries or more join," Suberg said.

For Suberg and her fellow mechanics, the aircraft quite literally is home. “Where the flight goes, you go,” she says matter-of-factly. Before COVID-19, the team completed five to six programmes annually. The pandemic reduced that to two or three, but they're rebuilding towards four to five programmes in the coming year.

It's a nomadic existence in service of preventing avoidable blindness – the kind that affects 43 million people worldwide, with 80 per cent of cases being preventable or treatable.

The aircraft itself could theoretically keep flying indefinitely. "The only limiting thing is parts and pilot training," Suberg notes. FedEx’s donation of spare parts and simulator access addresses both concerns.

Every six years, the entire hospital comes out for floor inspections – the only time the containers truly leave the aircraft. “When we do that, we upgrade," Suberg adds. The modular design that seemed unconventional when first conceived now proves its worth, allowing continuous improvements without complete reconstruction.

As Suberg walks through the aircraft she’s maintained since 2016, past the simulation labs and operating theatre, through the recovery room and sterilisation area, one thing becomes clear: this isn’t just an aircraft or a hospital. It is a promise that sight-saving knowledge can reach anywhere in the world – one carefully weighed container at a time.