Many of the villages we visit have only minimal medical care. You can see the delight on the people's faces when we provide them a solution to their medical concerns.

When you volunteer with LIGA, we notify villages that you are coming, and when possible order needed medications and tests for your clinic. We need your help for the LIGA El Fuerte Eye Clinic.


Since 1934, LIGA International ( www.ligainternational.org ) The Flying Doctors of Mercy), a philanthropic volunteer organization, dental and eye care, has been providing medical care to impoverished people in rural Mexico. The first Thursday of each month (November through March) privately owned planes, carrying four to six passengers, deliver passengers and supplies to the small communities of El Fuerte and San Blas, Sinaloa, Mexico.

LIGA has received the prestigious GEORGE Washington Medal of excellence award by the Freedom Foundation of Valley Forge for their humanitarian work in Mexico. The pilots were presented with the esteemed Aerospace Laureate Award by Aviation Week & Technology for flying light aircraft to provide desperately need health care in Mexico.

Global Sight Alliance, a worldwide organization of mission eye surgery programs has rated the Liga El Fuerte Ophthalmology program as one of their top rated programs. Here is the link: (http://www.globalsight.org/top-rated.html) LIGA International has several other medical surgical clinics in El Fuerte including Orthopedics, Dental, Audiology, OB-GYN and others. The Ophthalmology clinic is the busiest of all the clinics, doing hundreds of cataract and other eye surgeries annually.

Once a year the clinic arranges to have an anesthesiologist and pediatric ophthalmologist present to operate on children and adults with eye muscle problems.

In addition to surgical procedures the clinic also treats thousands of others with non-surgical medical eye problems. Much of the equipment and supplies have been donated by Alcon Humanitarian services and Lions Clubs of America. Patients receive all medical and surgical care FREE of CHARGE. Each LIGA volunteer pays their own way including nurses and doctors. In spite of the generosity of industry, additional funds are needed for this expensive endeavor. The money that is required to perform one cataract surgery is astounding. Each year the eye clinic requires funds for instrument repairs, purchasing new equipment and additional supplies. All donations are tax deductible (#95-6111-639).