A Virtual Lifeline for Doctors and Their Patients

Because of the pandemic, eye care professionals around the world were at risk of falling behind in their training. Potentially, an entire generation of eye care professionals would miss out on acquiring the advanced skills needed to change the lives of thousands of people in their communities.

Cybersight made sure this did not happen. In 2020, Orbis saw a record-breaking number of eye care professionals turn to our telemedicine platform to stay connected and continue to learn amid lockdowns. Nearly 46,000 doctors from across 200 countries and regions are now registered on the platform – a 179% increase since the start of 2020.

Imagine being that doctor in the remote community and having to perform a delicate surgery for the first time, or having to diagnose a complex eye condition you have never encountered before. With no colleagues to offer advice or a second opinion, where do you turn for help? This is when Cybersight becomes a true lifeline – a digital link to some of the world’s leading ophthalmologists, including many in Canada.

In the images above, you can see Volunteer Faculty member Dr. Daniel Neely provide live surgical mentorship from his home in the United States to Dr. Nancy Nansalmaain, an ophthalmologist working in a children’s hospital in Mongolia. “She did a beautiful job with a paediatric glaucoma surgery that she had only done a couple of times before,” said Dr. Neely. “She watched videos of me doing the same surgery in advance, and I was able to watch her operate through a video feed from her microscope, and we could also talk to each other in real time.”