First-ever eye bank inaugurated

President Alvi calls for creating a culture of donating corneas

ISLAMABAD: There is good news for the 200,000 people suffering from corneal diseases as the  country’s first every eye-bank was inaugurated on Wednesday.

The centre, set up by the Al-Shifa Trust, was inaugurated by President Dr Arif Alvi. The eye-bank was set up in collaboration with Ever-sight Eye Bank of the United States.

Dr Alvi said that around 20 million people in Pakistan are blind due to various eye diseases. Of these, the sight of 200,000 people can be restored through Cornea transplants.

He added that the trust conducts over 800 eye transplants every year. However, he noted that “it was a matter of concern that we do not have any trend of eye donations or facilities for preservation of Cornea in Pakistan.”

Dr Alvi underlined the need to spread public awareness so that people start donating their eyes and urged the media and the public to take up this challenge.

The President further said that it is a matter of great satisfaction that the trust will establish a chain of eye-banks in other cities of the country which will go a long way in providing sight to those who need it the most.

The trust’s President Lieutenant General (retd) Hamid Javaid said that over the past 28 years, they had managed to progress from being a simple hospital to one of the leading eye transplant facilities in the world which have been recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Our focus is children who are the future of our country and we screen almost 300,000 children every year through our school screening programme, Lt Gen Javaid stated.

He added that while corneas are donated, the cost of transporting even one cornea from the USA to Pakistan was around $600.

Visual healing: Eye bank open in Rawalpindi

Furthermore, there was no facility in the country to store corneas, which hindered the restoration of eyesight amongst needy while thousands remain on the waiting list, he said.

The trust’s president further said that medical technology had advanced to such a point that success rates of corneal transplants have risen to approximately 95%.

“The cornea has no blood supply, it is seldom subject to the rejections like other organ transplants,” he explained.

Infectious diseases ward at PIMS

The health minister on Wednesday inaugurated a modern infectious diseases ward and kidney transplant unit at the largest tertiary care hospital in the federal capital, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

The Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza visited the hospital on Wednesday. He also visited the Dialysis and Nephrology wards which have recently been renovated.

Later, he went around the hospital and inquired after the health of patients.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2019.