Waiting list for eye transplantation increased three times in Delhi's AIIMS, reduction in eye donation due to corona

Eye donation and transplantation have been badly affected due to the corona virus. However, the situation has seen an improvement with the decline in corona cases in the country. Dr. JS Titiyal, Head, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Center for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, Delhi said, “During the first wave of COVID, COVID really killed the eye donation movement in the country. The collection or donation of eyes was decreasing." Dr Titial said that he expected to touch the figure of 3,000 transplantations per year. But now due to Corona, it will take about three years to achieve this goal I was hoping that we can touch the figure of 3,000 transplants in a year, which was my target at that time. But suddenly corona came and now last year we could hardly do eye transplantation of around 580 people. There has been a three-fold increase in the number of cases being reported for surgery, which means people are waiting their turn for surgery." However, the doctor said that there has been some increase in donations with the reduction in COVID cases. He said, “Fortunately, COVID-19 is almost stable, similarly eye donation and collection is increasing day by day, which is a good sign for the whole country. I hope this is maintained so that we can effectively scale up our donations, collections and transplants." In the year 2018-2019, 2500 tissue and more than 1,700 eye surgeries were performed. AIIMS has the capacity to perform 5000-6000 transplants per year. "If I look at the National Eye Bank data before COVID-19 in 2019. At that time we had the maximum number of transplants and collections," said Dr. Titial. He said, "So, this is a real challenge for the times to come. Unfortunately, we get patients from across the country because they believe in AIIMS treatment. But the collection is not increasing." AIIMS will conduct various awareness campaigns for eye donation including "Run for Eye Donation" which will involve the department, residents, students and staff of AIIMS on 8th September.