84% Drop in Corneal Donations Compared to Last Year
New Delhi, Aug 28: With changing lifestyle patterns and excessive usage of digital screens by people of all age brackets, there is an exponential increase in the number of patients suffering from mild to severe vision problems which are preventable or treatable.
In order to curb down the instances of preventable blindness, All India Ophthalmology Society (AIOS) highlighted the importance of creating awareness about the preventable corneal blindness and encouraged the masses to come forward for the benevolent act of eye/ cornea donation on the occasion of National Eye Donation Fortnight.
“Since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, the eye donation movement in India has been severely impacted as the eye banking activities were completely shut down from March to May 2020. And even after recommencing of these services from June’20, the growth in numbers is yet extremely low. This gigantic gap has resulted in an exponential rise in the additional burden of corneal blind patients in the country. With a huge burden of vision impairment in India, there is an immediate need to take preventive measures on a very urgent basis.” Said Prof. (Dr) Mahipal Singh Sachdev, President AIOS & Chairman, Centre For Sight Group of Hospitals.
According to a recent data, around 11 lakh corneal blind patients are awaiting corneal transplant surgeries in India and last year over 26000 surgeries were done. In comparison to the last year from March to June’19 where 6991 corneas were collected and 2374 surgeries were successfully performed, this year in the same timeline only 1125 corneas were donated/ collected with 515 surgeries being performed. The data is clearly evident that there has been a drastic 84% drop in the cornea donation since last year.
The clear tissue covering the front of the eye, known as cornea if gets cloudy due to disease, injury, infection or poor nutrition, drastically reduces the vision and gradually leads to blindness. While corneal blindness is one of the most common and avoidable blindness can be treated by replacing the damaged cornea with a healthy donated one. Ignoring symptoms like blurry vision, blocked peripheral vision, dry or watery eyes, if treated timely can assist in reducing the burden of vision impairment in India.
“There being a dearth of eye donation in India, the burden of blindness is still piling up. Corneal blindness needs to be advocated as the biggest good, one can do to the world once one leaves the world. India being the country in need of highest number of transplants. With the ever-changing technology the treatment outcomes continue to improve but the only challenge remains is making it accessible to all. With advancements in the field of ophthalmology, development of laser ablations, corneal transplant techniques have revolutionized the patient recovery for better vision.” Said Dr Namrata Sharma, Hony, General Secretary, AIOS & Prof Opth RP Centre .
In comparison to other countries, where over 80% of the population donates their organs including eyes, only 1% of the Indian population undertake voluntary cadaver organ donation. Bursting the myths that blind people cannot donate their eyes, doctors also revealed that it is possible for them also to donate their eye unless they are suffering from corneal blindness.