Chief Advisor Prof. Muhammad Yunus expressed Bangladesh’s eagerness to work and collaborate with global non-profit organization Orbis International to expand eye care services in the country.

Speaking in a meeting with Orbis International Chief Executive Officer Derek Hodkey, he said Bangladesh needs to expand its eye care services and is ready to work with Orbis International for this purpose.

Derek, who is visiting Bangladesh as part of the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital training program currently taking place in Chattogram, met Prof Yunus at his office in the capital on Wednesday (November 20), a press release said.

Orbis Bangladesh Country Director Dr. Munir Ahmed accompanied Derek during his meeting with the Senior Advisor.

The president of Orbis presented the senior advisor with a model version of the Flying Eye Hospital, which he highly appreciated.

Derek spoke with the senior advisor about the work of Orbis International, which launched its global vision saving programs in 1982.

In Bangladesh, Orbis has been working with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for 39 years.

During this period, Derek said, Orbis has so far performed more than 7.8 million vision screenings at community outreach events, provided more than 4.5 million medical and optical treatments to adults and children, performed more than 258,000 eye surgeries and trained more than 40,000 eye care providers. professionals in Bangladesh.

Professor Yunus recognized Orbis’ contribution to the eye health sector in Bangladesh and expressed his appreciation for the Flying Eye Hospital, which is currently conducting its 11th training program in the South Asian country.

“I love Orbis. I love the Flying Eye Hospital,” he said, highlighting that Orbis is one of the key players in the eye health sector in Bangladesh.

Derek said Orbis offers vision-saving programs in more than 200 countries and territories around the world to help individuals, families and communities thrive.

Highlighting that approximately one billion people worldwide live with completely preventable blindness and vision loss, Derek said that for more than four decades, Orbis has addressed this challenge by building strong, sustainable eye care systems.

According to the Orbis president, the non-profit organization runs dedicated national programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and develops and implements innovative training and technologies.

He said that over the past four decades, Orbis has contributed to improving the skills and knowledge of local partners in Bangladesh, with a focus on pediatric eye care, microsurgery, retinal surgery, corneal diseases, retinopathy of prematurity and diabetic retinopathy.

Derek told the senior advisor that Orbis had established 42 vision centers, which connect communities across the country, particularly in rural areas, to eye care, and had supported the creation or improvement of 17 secondary hospitals, four tertiary hospitals, two wet laboratories, a quality resource center and a digital training hub.

Additionally, Orbis equipped 400 community clinics with vision screening tools and developed Bangladesh’s first national guidelines for screening and management of retinopathy of prematurity, a leading cause of childhood blindness, he mentioned.