Better climate for cornea harvest, 8,000 donated per year

HYDERABAD: Compared with past two decades, cornea harvest is improving in the city. Dr Rohit Khanna, associate director of L V Prasad Eye Institute and director of Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care told TOI, “When we started in 1987, we had to wait for long to get cornea. Now things have improved. We get seven to eight thousand corneas a year and supply them to other hospitals.


“When a patient dies, our counsellors convince families to donate corneas,” he added.

Globally, there has been a shortage of cornea but Sri Lanka is an exception. “In Sri Lanka, the Buddhist monks have played a huge role in encouraging eye donation by teaching people to see it as an act of giving. Our religious leaders, too, should encourage people to donate eyes,” said Khanna.

Since 1987, L V Prasad Eye Institute has saved the vision of nearly 26.04 million people and harvested 84,297 corneas, of which 46,372 have been distributed. Between April 2017 and March 2018, a total 9,691 donor corneas have been harvested and 5,775 corneas distributed in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Ramayamma International Eye Bank, Hyderabad, has collected 6,687 corneas. Around 2,989 corneas have been distributed to surgeons at L V Prasad Eye Institute, while doctors of other hospitals got 2,786 corneas. “About 2,516 corneas were used by surgeons for training, while 1,400 were not suitable for transplants,” said Khanna.

According to LV Prasad Eye Institute sources, the youngest corneal transplant patient was a 2-year-old this year, while the oldest was 90-year-old. Doctors called for holding of camps similar to blood donation to increase awareness about eye donation in the city.