Eye banks that do not collect 100 corneas per year may lose their license | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: In a move that could impact eye banks across India, the government has issued a directive requiring institutions responsible for collecting and processing donor corneas to have a minimum of 100 collections per year or face the risk of risk of losing the license to operate.
India has 726 registered eye banks, but sources say only 200 are operational. “Many eye banks are opened for government support or as a condition for starting up PG Courses in Ophthalmology. But they are not optimally maintained,” the source added.
As per the guideline of National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organization, the nodal agency for organ and tissue distribution in the country, state authorities should annually examine eye/cornea collection data from registered eye banks and in case of less performance, they may consider a warning to the eye bank for expanding their eye donation activities.
“…otherwise, in case of substandard performance, their extension will not be considered for the next term,” the order said.
Cornea is the transparent tissue that covers the eye. It lets in light and performs two-thirds of the focusing tasks. For people suffering from vision loss due to irreparable tissue damage, transplantation is the only option.