Eye donation movement yet to recover from pandemic blow

NEW DELHI: India is yet to recover from the loss of momentum in corneal transplants suffered during the pandemic.
According to the Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI), one of the reasons is a drop in the number of corneas collected. Between March 2021 and April 2022, the EBAI says a total 32,352 corneas were collected across the country.
It is 76% more than the number of corneas collected at the peak of the pandemic (18,358), between March 2020 and April 2021, but significantly lower than the numbers reported in previous years. Between March 2018 and April 2019 and March 2019 and April 2020, India reported a collection of 56,947 and 50,171 corneas respectively. This is 43% and 36% more than the number of corneas collected in the corresponding period in 2021-22, latest data shared by EBAI shows.
Maj Gen Dr JKS Parihar, president of EBAI, said the eye donation movement in India has been severely impacted due to the pandemic in 2020 as eye banking activities were shut down from March to May 2020. He said the gigantic gap created by the pandemic in collection of corneas from deceased donors has resulted in an exponential rise in the additional burden of corneal blind patients. As per recent data, around 11 lakh corneal blind patients are awaiting corneal transplant surgeries in India.