HospiBuzz

Sankara Eye Care Institution Launches Eye Bank Facility

Sankara Eye Care Institution, Bangalore, recently launched a state-of-the-art eye bank facility at its hospital campus to meet the ever-growing demand for eye transplant in Karnataka. Justice Santhosh Hegde, Lokayukta Karnataka inaugurated the new facility at the hospital premises. On the occasion, it was announced that R K Mishra, winner of lead India campaign and leading social activist, would be the brand ambassador for the new facility. He also accepted to be the first eye donor for the new eye bank.

Besides educating people about eye donation and eye banking, tissue harvesting, tissue preservation, the new facility will actively promote organ and tissue donation through creating awareness among the public and donor registration, besides procurement and distribution of eye tissue for transplant surgery. The eye bank at Sankara Eyecare Institution, Coimbatore is recognised as a model eye bank by Government of India. Said Dr R V Ramani, Founder & Managing Trustee, Sankara Eye Care Institution, “We currently receive, on an average, a pair of eyes daily and has also performed over 5,000 eye transplants till date.” According to the Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI), there are an estimated three million corneal blind in India with close to 25,000 being added to this tally annually. In the present situation, there is a need to collect at least 1,00,000 corneas per year to provide the momentum and thrust to fight against corneal blindness. And it is still a long way from reaching a collection of 1,00,000 corneas per year.

According to Justice Santosh Hegde of Lokayukta Karnataka, "Around 14-15 organs can be donated including eye and put into more effective use. The central and state Governments have to look into liberalisation of the legal formalities to encourage donation. But there should be a balance with some regulation to discourage commercialisation or exploitation."

"Close to 60 per cent of the 3 million corneal blind in India is aged below 12 and their eye sight can be restored by corneal transplantation," said Dr Ramani.

EH News Bureau