Date:27/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/27/stories/2006102716530400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Government eye bank's silver jubilee

Staff Reporter

Governor to attend celebrations

CHENNAI : The silver jubilee celebrations of the eye bank jointly managed by the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Chennai Lions Eye Bank Trust will be held on Monday, with Governor S. S. Barnala attending.

The eye bank was set up by the Government Ophthalmic Hospital and the Lions Club at a time when donated eyes were hard to come by.

From managing with 14 pairs of eyes in its first year of operation, the eye bank now provides corneas for what is the second-largest eye transplant programme in the Government sector in the country after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.

Thanks to increased awareness, the bank now receives at least a pair of eyes every day for transplantation. On an average, the hospital conducts around 300 corneal transplants a year.

The Lions Club has also recruited grief counsellors to persuade relatives of patients who expire on the need to donate the eyes to provide sight to corneally blind persons.

Under the Hospital Corneal Retrieval Programme, introduced four years ago, the eye bank networks with General Hospital, Kilpauk Medical College, Government Royapettah Hospital and Stanley Medical College.