Eye banks that don't collect 100 corneas a year can lose licence

NEW DELHI: In a move that could affect eye banks across India, government issued a directive making it mandatory for institutions responsible for collecting and processing donor corneas to have a minimum 100 collections in a year or they could risk losing licence to operate.

India has 726 registered eye banks but, sources said, only 200 are operational. “Many eye banks are opened for govt aid or as a prerequisite to start PG courses in ophthalmology . But they aren’t maintained optimally,” the source added.

The directive by National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation, the nodal agency for distribution of organs and tissues in the country, said state authorities should examine data on eye/cornea collection annually by registered eye banks and in case of less performance, they can consider issuing a warning notice to the eye bank for augmenting their eye donation activities.

“... otherwise in case of under-performance their renewal may not be considered for the next term,” the order says.

Cornea is the transparent tissue that covers the eye. It allows light to enter and performs two-thirds of the focusing tasks. For people suffering from vision loss due to irreparable damage of the tissue, transplant is the only option.