Dr. Gullpalli Nageswara Rao, Founder of LV Prasad Eye Institute highlighted the critical shortage of corneal transplant in India and with that they also highlighted the need for significant improvements in the country’s corneal healthcare infrastructure.
The Current Landscape over Corneal Transplant
Talking About the current landscape of India, Approximately 100,000 corneal transplant need to done if India wants to battle corneal blindness. Currently our healthcare system provides only 30,000 transplants each year. The gap between the numbers that required in corneal transplant and the number of transplants that are happening currently makes it an immediate action to be taken.
Vision for the Future
To increase the amount of corneal transplant from 30,000 to 60,000 by 2030. It is important to form some key strategies so that the plan gets successfully implement.
Establishment of Eye Banks: With an aim to set up 50 new eye international banks which will meet the international standards across the nation and for that an investment of ₹1 crore is required. These eye banks will play an important role in corneal donation and transplant process.
Training Corneal Surgeons: To have proper training and skills is very important for the professionals. There is a plan to train at least 500 ophthalmic surgeons in corneal transplant. So that fully skilled professionals are ready as the demand is increasing.Awareness Campaigns: It is important to inform the public about how corneal donation is important as it can be a big help for other people and their family who are struggling from it.
Collaborative Efforts for Corneal Transplant
To make this plan successful it is important to have a collective effort from all stakeholders. Including all government bodies, the private sector and the medical community. By working together it can be possible to create supportive policies, allocate necessary resources and raise some awareness about it.
By Dr. Gullapalli Nageswara Rao, Founder of L V Prasad Eye Institute shared “India is facing a severe shortage of corneas for transplantation with demand far exceeding our capacity to meet it.
With this gap widening each year, we must take immediate and comprehensive action to prevent millions from losing their sight. While some believed it was impossible to establish advanced corneal services in India, we have proven otherwise. Our success serves as a model that can replicate nationwide to eliminate corneal blindness and encourage organ donation. We must expand corneal donation programmes, establish more eye banks. Institution of the hospital cornea retrieval programme and develop comprehensive policies to build a robust corneal healthcare system in India. The goal must be to build a sustainable, self-reliant corneal healthcare system. With collaborative efforts, we can restore sight to millions of Indians suffering from curable corneal blindness.”
Dr Shashi Nath jha M D (AIIMS) Chairman Department of Ophthalmology Sir Ganga Ram Hospital shared “Corneal blindness is a leading cause of visual impairment affecting an estimated 1 million people across the nation. To meet this staggering demand, approximately 100,000 corneal transplant need to performed annually to reduce the burden of disease. However, the current state of healthcare systems can only provide about 30,000 transplants in a year. Therefore, there is an urgent need to step-up existing infrastructure to meet the standards and requirements of corneal transplantation across the country.”
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Conclusion
There is a high need of urgency to expand corneal transplant infrastructure in India that cannot be delayed. Having proper strategic plan, focusing on having new eye banks, providing proper training for corneal transplant to healthcare professionals and aware the public about and its importance, by doing all this it is possible to reach the number of transplants that are required to be done each year. Working together can make it possible to give sight to millions of people who are suffering from corneal blindness.