Lucknow, Nov 26th : , The King George’s Medical University’s ophthalmology division (KGMU) has reached the milestone of performing over 1,000 corneal transplants per year. This feat was achieved in 10 months and is almost twice the number of transplants that were performed last year.
Official sources claim that KGMU’s eye bank conducted 1,035 transplants despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than 1,000 visually impaired individuals were provided with vision by the doctors.
Data also show that there has been an increase in corneal transplants at the department — from 20 in 2016, to about 367, 2017, around 707, 2018 and 767 in 2019, respectively.
However, the pandemic caused many obstacles that led to a drop in the number of people affected.
Two factors have contributed to the record growth: increased awareness and efficiency of cornea retrieval and transplantation at the KGMU’s ophthalmology section.
A 56-year-old Gonda woman was diagnosed with retinopathy and received her 1,000th transplant.
“She had lost her vision nearly two years ago due to retinopathy caused by diabetes.Professor Arun Kumar, director at KGMU’s eye bank, stated that the test revealed that her optic nerves were functioning well and that she could sense light and dark.
He stated, “The transplant was done nearly a month ago, and her sight has begun to come back.” We currently have an operation theatre available for transplants for three to four cases per day.We can perform procedures thrice a day with dedicated OT and an increase in staff.This will benefit at least eight to ten patients.
KGMU has already received 1,401 cornea donations this year.This is an impressive increase in cornea donation.
Doctors say that although there has been an increase in donations over time, it is not enough as demand is enormous.
Prof Arun Kumar stated, “We not only transplant corneas at the centre, but also provide them for other government medical institutions.”
He asked his family to honor the pledge of eye donation made by their loved ones after their death.
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