A symposium on “Advances in ophthalmology” held here on September 1 highlighted the importance of encouraging more eye donations as recent advances in corneal transplantation techniques allow one donor’s cornea to be transplanted on four to six patients.
Namrata Sharma, Professor, Department of Cornea and Refractive Services, Dr R.P. Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and J.K. Reddy, medical director of the Sankara Eye Centre, Coimbatore, stressed the need to encourage eye donations in the country as the Eye Donation Fortnight was being observed from August 25 to September 8. They said that according to the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) statistics, there were 1,20,000 corneal blind persons in the country with 25,000 to 30,000 being added to this burden every year.
The highlights of their presentations are: diseases of cornea are the third leading cause of blindness after cataract and glaucoma; the majority of patients with corneal blindness require corneal transplantation; and the diseased cornea can be replaced by cornea received from donations only. The new techniques in corneal transplantation also allow specific transplantation of the required corneal layers instead of the whole cornea.
The symposium was organised by the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS) and the Kerala Society of Ophthalmic Surgeons (KSOS), in association with the Ophthalmic Society of Kannur, Comtrust Charitable Trust Eye Hospital, Thalassery, and the Indian Medical Association, Thalassery. Dr. Sharma, who is general secretary of the AIOS, inaugurated the meet. Sreeni Edakhlon, general secretary of KSOS, presided over the event.