Hope of light in AIIMS, National Eye Bank got 2000 corneas in 1 year

The National Eye Bank (NEB) of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences (RP Centre), Delhi AIIMS on Tuesday launched a campaign to raise awareness about eye donation to fight corneal blindness.

Every year, from the last week of August to 2 September, all ophthalmologists of AIIMS run awareness campaigns on eye donation. According to the data provided by the National Eye Bank this year, in the last one year, 2000 people have donated corneas to AIIMS, with the help of which 1703 people got their eyesight back.

Over 23,000 treated

In the last 58 years, the National Eye Bank (NEB) has ushered in a new era in the field of eye banking in the country. More than 32,000 corneas have been collected so far. NEB has treated more than 23,000 corneal blind patients across the country through corneal transplant.

Impact during the Covid period

Awareness is being spread about eye donation in the country, in which big institutions of the country run campaigns. But in the last 3 years, eye donation was greatly affected due to Corona. The Covid-19 pandemic severely affected the National Eye Bank services. In the last 5 years, AIIMS has done more than 1000 corneal transplants every year through surgery. In the year 2023-24, 1703 corneal patients underwent transplant. This rate of transplant is 85% which is higher than the national average.

In emergency cases, cornea transplant is done on zero waiting

Patients who come to AIIMS in emergency cases, i.e. those whose eyes are damaged in an accident, are treated in zero waiting list due to emergency. Along with this, ‘AIIMS-Delhi-Hospital Cornea Retrieval Program’ is also being run. Its purpose is to collect more optical quality tissue to meet the demand of all the corneal transplant centers in Delhi.

National Eye Bank is striving to establish a network with all the government hospitals in Delhi and NCR to increase the collection of donor corneas and provide access to corneal tissue to all corneal surgeons. “Single Donor Multiple Recipient” is also being promoted in RP centers to increase the use of donor tissue.

Also read: Are India’s ‘Changu-Mangu’ the same as Pakistan’s ‘Changa-Manga’? Believe me, their story will blow your mind

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