One of Lucknow’s most prominent medical centres, the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has crossed the 1000-mark in corneal transplant this year. Despite facing challenges due to the ongoing COVID crisis, the eye bank of KGMU, run under the ophthalmology department has conducted 1,035 transplants in the last ten months. With this, the doctors successfully managed to provide eyesight to over 1,000 visually-impaired people.
A rise in eye donation recorded in KGMU
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According to the official data, there has been a consistent spike in the growth of corneal transplants by the ophthalmology department over the years. However, only 598 corneal transplants were conducted in KGMU last year. From 20 transplants in the year 2016, over 350 in 2017, about 707 in 2018 and around 767 in 2019, the number of transplants witnessed a downfall in 2020 owing to the obstacles created by the outbreak of coronavirus.
As per the officials, this record growth was possible due to the rising numbers of eye donations due to increased awareness among people and the efficiency in cornea retrieval and transplantation by the ophthalmology department of Lucknow’s medical college. Over the years, KGMU has been recording impressive growth in cornea donation. Reportedly, 1,401 donations have already been made so far, this year. However, according to the doctors, due to the excessive rise in demand this rise in donations witnessed over the years is not sufficient.
“We not only transplant corneas at our centre, but also provide them to other government medical institutions,” said Prof Arun Kumar while urging families to honour the eye donation pledge of their loved ones after death.
1000th transplant performed on a 56-year-old woman
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Purportedly, the iconic 1000th transplant was performed on a 56-year-old woman from Gonda, who was suffering from retinopathy. Talking about the same, Prof Arun Kumar, director of KGMU eye bank said, “The transplant was performed nearly a month ago and her sight has started to come back. As of now, we get an operation theatre for transplant for a day in a week in which we take up three-four cases. With dedicated OT and increase in staff, we can conduct procedures thrice a week, benefitting at least eight-ten patients.”
With inputs from IANS
