AIIMS eyes use of drones to transport corneal tissue

New Delhi: RP Eye Centre at AIIMS is exploring the possibility of using drones to transport corneal tissue for transplant.


Dr J S Titiyal, the head of cornea services at the centre and chairman of National Eye Bank (NEB) at AIIMS, said this would help increase the collection of corneal tissue required to restore vision in people suffering from loss of eye sight due to irreparable damage of the tissue.

Cornea, the transparent tissue covering the eye, allows light to enter and perform two-thirds of the focusing tasks. If damaged tissue can’t be repaired, transplant with a donor graft is the only option.

Dr Titiyal said many hospitals in the national capital region could retrieve the tissue from deceased donors but didn’t have the transplant facility. “We are looking into the possibility of using drones to transport cornea from such centres. It is an idea at present and we plan to rope in experts from IIT Delhi to study its feasibility,” he added. The move may be most beneficial for rural areas where there is no transplant facility, said another doctor.

The AIIMS facility is one of the most active centres for eye transplant. Last year, the hospital had collected 2,234 corneas, the highest in the past 50 years, of which 1,426 were transplanted.

But the data available on the waiting list this April suggests a huge gap in demand and supply. Over 600 patients — four children below 6 years of age, 119 children between 6-12 years and adults with blindness in both eyes, 24 adults with visual impairment in both eyes and 474 adults with blindness in one eye — were on the AIIMS waiting list.

This year, Dr Titiyal said, they have started a new programme, ‘AIIMS-Delhi- Hospital Cornea Retrieval Program (HCRP)’, to collect more corneal tissue to meet the demand at all such centres in the city. Four major hospitals — RML, Lady Hardinge, DDU and GTB — have been linked with this programme.

Dr Tushar Agarwal, professor of opthalmology at the RP centre, said all donated corneas couldn’t be utilised. “Once the corneas are retrieved, they undergo a rigorous processing procedure. Only when we are assured that they are safe for transplant, we use them,” he said.

This year, doctors said, 1,247 corneas were collected in the first six months at AIIMS, of which 942 were utilised. “We are looking at achieving 3,000 donor tissue collections and getting over 2,000 transplants in a year,” said Dr Titiyal.