No eye bank in Bihar yet

PATNA: The eye donation week (August 25-Sept 8) passed like every year but the state government is yet to think of opening an eye bank in Bihar. The one at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) has been defunct for over a decade.
This was admitted by health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey in reply to a question asked by a BJP legislator in the state assembly in March 2012."No eye transplantation has taken place in the state for over a decade either at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) or any private hospital in the state," the minister had said.
"An eye bank was opened at the PMCH in 1986 but it never became functional. Later on, in 1990, a regional eye institute was opened under the department of ophthalmology at PMCH which was, later, shifted to Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS). But that, too, could not take off as the institute which had once applied for an eye bank did not get the requisite permission," a PMCH doctor said.
Eye surgeon Dr Sunil Kumar laments, "Not a single functional eye bank exists in Bihar. Though doctors have been posted at the PMCH eye bank, it remains inoperative while the one at Rajgir, run by a trust which gets grant from the state government, is also not functional."
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi had, in 2011, announced that an eye bank at the PMCH would be opened soon. The government this year announced that an eye bank would be opened in every government medical college hospital in the state. But nothing has been done till date.
Some of the reasons behind no eye transplantation in the state are no eye donation, less awareness and religious superstitions, Kumar said.
Notably, animal husbandry and fisheries resources minister Giriraj Singh had also said in the assembly that lack of eye donation was a major factor behind no eye transplantation in the state. "Though we have promoted eye donations through advertisements, not a single eye was donated to the PMCH," he had said.
Interestingly, doctors also do not know whether The Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, is enforced in Bihar or not. Principal secretary, health, Vyasji said, "I will have to look into it."
The fact is the Act is yet to be implemented in the state. This, too, was admitted by the health minister in the state assembly in March, 2012, while responding to a question to facilitate kidney transplant in Bihar.