Vision for the future

Flying Hospital has traveled to more than 90 countries, treating patients and teaching doctors how to detect early signs of vision problems. Mike Peters reports from Jinan, Shandong province.

Wang Shunwen sobs quietly on a hospital gurney as her mother strokes her hair and her surgeon looks on. Shunwen is 7 years old and she has just undergone her second surgery for bilateral congenital glaucoma in two days. "Think of an eye as an overflowing bathtub, with fluid constantly going in and out," says Dr James Brandt, an ophthalmology professor of surgery from the University of California-Davis. "Glaucoma prevents fluid from draining properly, so that creates tremendous pressure."

Brandt and his colleagues are huddled around Shunwen in a most unusual recovery room - literally a converted DC-10 aircraft operated by Orbis - the Flying Eye Hospital.