“I wanted to leverage my knowledge to augment the ophthalmic skills of medical professionals in needy areas, enabling them to save more patients,” said Dr. Lai regarding his primary motivation of becoming an Orbis’s volunteer ophthalmologist.
Since first joining Orbis 14 years ago, Dr. Lai has now saved sight everywhere from India and Bangladesh to China and Vietnam. When the pandemic made face-to-face training impossible, he remained steadfast in sharing new skills and techniques via online training workshops.
A volunteer doctor’s lot in life is far from easy. During his week in Vietnam, Dr. Lai not only screened patients at local hospitals, he also trained doctors aboard the Flying Eye Hospital. He even performed emergency treatments on those suffering with serious issues such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and retinal vascular occlusion. Instead of unwinding in his hotel room, his evenings were spent prepping the following day’s itinerary.
