Florence Branchu, Head of Qatar Creating Vision (QCV) explaining Orbis Flying Eye Hospital Programme with virtual reality tool. Pic: Qassim Rahmatullah / The Peninsula
Qatar Creating Vision, a joint initiative of Qatar Fund for Development and Orbis to provide 5.5 million eye screenings and treatments to children in India and Bangladesh, is planning to launch a full-fledged volunteering drive among doctors in Qatar.
“One of our key objectives for the end of 2016 and 2017 is to create volunteering opportunities for Qatar’s qualified medical staff to have the chance to promote Qatar’s advanced and high-quality eye care,” said Qatar Creating Vision (QCV) Head Florence Branchu in an exclusive interview with The Peninsula yesterday.
She said that through volunteering, Qatari medical staff, doctors and nurses, would get exposure - visits to paediatric eye care centres in India and/or Bangladesh. “QCV also intends to engage them as an observer in Hospital Based Programme focusing on Paediatric Ophthalmology and will also ensure volunteers’ participation in symposiums/seminars,” she added.
By 2020, QCV aims to achieve 5.5 million eye screenings and treatments in India and Bangladesh and trainings of over 75,000 School teachers, frontline-workers and community health volunteers. “To train as many as 800 medical professionals in both countries is also part of our target,” she added, expressing confidence that QCV with the help of QFFD and community would meet those targets well in time.
QCV initiative was signed in November 2015 with the financial assistance from Qatar Fund for Development. “On the Nov 28, we are marking the first anniversary of the project,” she said, adding that QCV would also share with media statistics regarding number of patients treated and doctors/nurses trained under the initiative since it started in India and Bangladesh at the eve of first anniversary.
Florence said that Qatari volunteers could also get exposure in Orbis Flying Eye Hospital Programme. “Exchange programme of fellows could be arranged in recognised training centres, Bangladesh, India and Qatar. They would also be involved in screening program at paediatric outreach camp or school sight testing camps,” she added.
She said that people could get in touch with QCV via email [email protected] or for more information can sign up to the newsletter on website: www.qatarcreatingvision.org.
Medical volunteers are the backbone of Orbis programmes. Medical volunteers from all over the world donate their time and energy to work with Orbis to prevent blindness and restore sight. “We ask everyone, not only doctors, to join this amazing initiative,” she said.
She explained that medical volunteers are called “volunteer-faculty”, and these specialists include ophthalmologists, orthoptists, biomedical engineers, anaesthetists, and ophthalmic nurses. “More than 400 medical professionals are members of volunteer faculty pool of Orbis, coming from such diverse countries as United Kingdom, USA, Australia, Italy, Argentina, Taiwan and India. Volunteer faculty share their expertise with colleagues in developing nations through consultations, surgical demonstrations, wet lab supervision, lectures, and workshops during an Orbis Flying Eye Hospital visit or a hospital-based programme,” she added.
