AIIMS marks 40th National Eye Donation Fortnight

The National Eye Bank (NEB) at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, New Delhi, marked the 40th National Eye Donation Fortnight on Tuesday.

The event aimed to recognise donor families, NGOs, partner hospitals and staff, while promoting awareness on eye donation and corneal transplantation.

Since its inception, NEB has collected more than 36,000 corneas and enabled visual rehabilitation for over 26,000 patients.

In 2024, it collected 1,931 corneas — 83 per cent came through the hospital’s corneal retrieval programme. The same year, 1,636 corneal transplant surgeries were performed, with an utilisation rate of 85 per cent, higher than the national average.

RP Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS-Delhi, Chief Radhika Tandon said: “In the past, patients would spend years waiting for a corneal transplant, but today the story is changing. Thanks to the efforts of our team and the growing awareness about eye donation, we have been able to significantly reduce the waiting list. This is a huge positive trend for us as a country, because sight should never be a privilege — it should be a right.”

The centre aimed not just to reduce the waiting list but to completely eliminate the backlog of treatable corneal blindness, she added.

“We are giving ourselves ambitious targets, not only to expand corneal transplants but also to prevent avoidable blindness in children. For example, we are working on the idea of recognising and rewarding villages that report zero eye injuries in children,” she said.

This year, the centre introduced drone-assisted corneal transport in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital.

As part of expansion, an eye bank facility was inaugurated at AIIMS, Kalyani. Research collaborations with IIT-Delhi are underway to develop bioengineered corneal implants, while alternatives such as biosynthetic corneas and keratoprosthesis are

being explored.

NEB has been conducting sensitisation programmes, including a boot camp for eye donation counsellors and training for nursing staff.

A 100 per cent online death notification system and an online pledge platform are in place to streamline donation processes. Last year, 100 individuals pledged to donate their eyes. A walk for eye donation was organised on August 29 on the AIIMS campus to spread awareness in

this regard.