In The Eye Of Covid Storm: Cornea Transplants Take A Major Plunge

New Delhi: In an unusual fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, eye donations have seen a drastic fall at AIIMS. Data shared by the hospital, which runs one of the most active eye transplant programmes in India, shows only 450 cornea donations this year between January and July against 1,244 in the corresponding period of 2019.

Nationally too, fewer donations have led to a serious shortage of the corneal tissue needed for transplants to restore vision in people suffering from loss of eyesight due to irreparable damage of the tissue.

According to Dr J S Titiyal, chairman, National Eye Bank, AIIMS, eye banking has been adversely affected by the pandemic. “When the Covid outbreak started to peak in April, we had to temporarily suspend retrieval of corneal tissue and put all planned corneal transplants on hold. This resulted in a big reduction in donations and transplants conducted at the institute,” Titiyal said.

The new guidelines for the retrieval of cornea require Covid testing and other measures, which are seen as disincentives to donors. Last year, between January and July, AIIMS conducted 934 corneal transplant surgeries. This year, this number slid to 339.

Dr Titiyal said while planned or elective corneal transplants were put completely on hold between April and June, emergency cases were operated upon. “We did 17 emergency corneal transplants by using glycerine preserved tissues in the three months,” he said.

Over July and August, both eye donations and transplants have resumed, but the numbers are very low.

Dr Namrata Sharma, professor of ophthalmology at AIIMS, said, “From March to June, during the lockdown, only 1,125 cornea tissues were collected across 20 eye banks in the country. The number of corneal transplant surgeries was 515.” Dr Sharma, who is also the secretary of the Eye Bank Association of India, noted that the figures in the same period last year were, respectively, 6,991 and 2,374.

More than 11 lakh people in India suffer from blindness due to impairment of the cornea. To remedy this, cornea donated by a deceased person is used to replace the impaired cornea in the patient. Dr Sharma said around two lakh corneas are required in India every year, but only around 55,000 corneas are available due to lax donations. The EBAI secretary appealed to people to donate the eyes of the deceased family members. “This act will go a long way in helping the cornea-blind tide over this hour of darkness,” she said.

Dr Mahipal Singh Sachdev, president, All India Ophthalmological Society, and chairman, Centre For Sight Group of Hospitals, similarly pointed out, “Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the eye donation movement in India took a major hit. Despite the lockdown being relaxed, the number of corneas being donated remains extremely low. This has resulted in a rise in the burden of corneal blindness and prolonged waiting list. There is an urgent need to expedite efforts in this direction.”