The latest data from the Eye Bank Association of India reveals that AP has reported the second highest eye donations in the country and closely follows Tamil Nadu at the top, which authorities said was a rare good news at a time of political crisis.
Compared to 5,372 eye balls donated during 2011-12, a significantly higher 6,518 corneas were donated during 2012-13 in AP.
Interestingly, Tamil Nadu and AP overtook Gujarat which had reported the highest eye donations totaling to 6,428 during 2011-12, but took a downturn in 2012-13 with 5,631 corneal donations.
Experts said several hospitals in the state have joined hands for cornea retrieval programmes. If earlier, Gandhi Hospital and Osmania General Hospital, which get the highest road traffic accident cases, were not a part of Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme (HCRP) spearheaded by L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), they have now been roped in, along with other hospitals which report a high death rate.
"Close to 65% corneas retrieved under HCRP are being utilized as against the normal utilization rate of 50%. In addition to this, we are also working with eye donation centres in different districts in the state," said Dr Prashant Garg, associate director, cornea and anterior segment services, LVPEI.
Also, an Indian network has been developed with a central pool through which corneas can be procured by corneal surgeons, Garg added. But there is a big demand and supply gap when it comes to the number of corneal blind verses the number of corneas available throughout the country. "In 2012 around 23,000 corneas were procured in India in contrast to the demand which is 1 lakh corneas," said Dr Garg.
"Currently, 1.1 milliion people require cornea transplantation in India for either both eyes or single eye. Annually 20,000 to 25,000 new cases are added to this figure," said G Ganesh, executive director, Eye Bank Association of India.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/ljokxtn
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