India facing critical shortage of cornea, says LVPEI founder Dr G N Rao

There is a need to expand corneal donation programmes, establish more eye banks, institution of the hospital cornea retrieval programme etc, Dr G N Rao while interacting with press persons

Hyderabad: India is facing a critical shortage of corneas for transplantation and against a requirement of 1 lakh corneal transplants every year, the healthcare system could only provide around 30,000, said Dr G N Rao, founder of LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI).

With the gap between demand and supply widening each year, there is a need for immediate and comprehensive action to prevent millions from losing their sight. There is a need to expand corneal donation programmes, establish more eye banks, institution of the hospital cornea retrieval programme etc, Dr G N Rao while interacting with press persons on Wednesday said.

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By 2030, we should aim to increase the number of corneal transplants from 30,000 to 60,000 annually. The network of eye banks must be expanded with at least 50 standard eye banks nationwide, each requiring an investment of approximately Rs 1 crore. The hospital cornea retrieval programmes should be instituted in 500 major general hospitals along with placement of grief counsellors and linked to the eye banks. A pool of cornea specialists must be readied by training at least 500 ophthalmic surgeons capable of performing corneal transplant surgeries, he said.