ORBIS and Alcon Call Attention to the...(voids in access to eye health care and h...),Health

"In many countries, the proliferation of healthcare technology has outpaced local biomedical engineers' capacity to maintain and keep it operational," says Sara Woodward, Alcon's director of humanitarian and community services. "Consequently, the potential for healthcare technology to alleviate preventable blindness is not being fulfilled, and millions are needlessly losing or living without their sight as a result."

To ensure the best possible operation and maintenance of its donated equipment, Alcon established a Volunteer Biomedical Corps. Alcon technicians participate in training programs on board the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital and through ORBIS-sponsored hospital-based programs in China, Ethiopia, India, Peru and other countries. These engineers complement the hundreds of volunteer doctors and nurses who make ORBIS' medical training possible.

Since 1979, Alcon has provided more than $8 million in ophthalmic equipment, medical supplies and financial support to ORBIS. Alcon is ensuring the growth of ORBIS' blindness prevention programs and making it possible for the organization's international medical team and cadre of volunteer ophthalmologists to teach advanced surgical techniques to doctors in the developing world.

World Sight Day is coordinated by VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, a joint initiative of the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. ORBIS is a founding member of VISION 2020.

Visit http://www.orbis.org for more information on how ORBIS is addressing the problem of global blindness.

About Alcon, Inc

Alcon, Inc. is the world's leading eye care company, with sales of $5.6 billion in 2007. Alcon, which has been dedicated to the ophthalmic industry for more than 60 years, researches, develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceut
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