Take us back to the beginning…

I have been with Orbis since 1994 – my first mission was to Khartoum, Sudan. I was just an ordinary ophthalmologist who had an interest in overseas ophthalmology, particularly in developing countries. One of the reasons I was interested in Orbis was because I learned to fly when I was very young and Orbis is where you get interdigitation of aircraft and ophthalmology!

My first visit to Khartoum was a revelation to me; we regard ourselves as being well-trained ophthalmologists but when I got there I realized we hadn’t really scratched the surface. It was familiar… yet so very different. You’d see cataracts, but they weren’t the same as what I was used to; the response to surgery could be entirely different; for example, the patient could have a much greater inflammatory response. The burden of disease is absolutely huge – you just don’t realize how gargantuan the work is and how very little there is available with which to do it. There were patients who had walked for days to bring their child to see you in the hope that you could deliver a miracle for them. Sometimes you could, but sometimes you couldn’t.