<p>With eye hospitals and eye banks prohibited from undertaking home retrieval of eyes from dead individuals in the city ever since the pandemic started, patients waiting for cornea transplants have been severely affected. </p>.<p>This is because it is impossible to perform an RT-PCR Covid test within six hours (the maximum time within which the eyes have to be harvested from a dead person). </p>.<p>They only have hospital retrievals to rely on, where the Covid-negative status of the dead person is confirmed. This has aggravated the shortage of corneas for treatment of people with certain eye diseases.</p>.<p>As opposed to patients who can have a vision restorative surgery, whenever a cornea is available (described as ‘cold cases’ by doctors), in cases of infections and injuries, an emergency corneal transplant has to be done. Else, the patient loses sight for life. </p>.<p>There are approximately 30 eye banks in Bengaluru. Narayana Nethralaya, from March to August, collected only 39 eyes as opposed to more than 700 eyes during the same time in 2019. Out of the 40 patients waiting for corneal transplant, 15 are children. </p>.<p>Sankara Nethralaya saw 150 corneal donations during the same period last year. The number has come down to 60 this year. Thirty children and 20 adults have been waiting for three to six months, with not a single corneal donation in the past one month.</p>.<p>As much as 50% of the kids and 5% of the adults are bilaterally blind. In 20% cases, the faster the surgery is done, higher are the chances of getting vision back. </p>.<p>Shekar Eye Hospital had 18 donations during the same period last year. This is down to two this year and the waiting list has 24 patients. </p>.<p>“It is important to raise awareness about eye donation. Families of people expiring due to non-Covid reasons should voluntarily contact eye banks and donate their loved one’s eyes, as we are in a desperate situation. The pandemic has affected people with eye infections and ulcers. Our waiting time for a cornea has increased from 48 hours to four days,” said Dr Rohit Shetty, vice chairman and cornea-refractive surgeon at Narayana Nethralaya.</p>.<p>Dr Anand Balasubramaniam, senior consultant, cornea and cataract services, Sankara Nethralaya, said, “Due to the scarcity of donor eyes, we have been using corneas only for treating infections and not vision improvement. The Eye Bank Association of India has asked us not to retrieve eyes from deceased people unless they are at hospitals and have Covid-negative test report. In the past four months, we haven’t done a single surgery for visual purposes, unless it’s an infection.”</p>.<p>Dr Rajashekar Y L, president of Karnataka Ophthalmic Society and medical director of Shekar Eye Hospital, told DH, “Corneal transplants have come down by more than 90%, because either people are not coming forward to donate eyes of the dead or there is no Covid-negative test report. The waiting list has lengthened.”</p>
<p>With eye hospitals and eye banks prohibited from undertaking home retrieval of eyes from dead individuals in the city ever since the pandemic started, patients waiting for cornea transplants have been severely affected. </p>.<p>This is because it is impossible to perform an RT-PCR Covid test within six hours (the maximum time within which the eyes have to be harvested from a dead person). </p>.<p>They only have hospital retrievals to rely on, where the Covid-negative status of the dead person is confirmed. This has aggravated the shortage of corneas for treatment of people with certain eye diseases.</p>.<p>As opposed to patients who can have a vision restorative surgery, whenever a cornea is available (described as ‘cold cases’ by doctors), in cases of infections and injuries, an emergency corneal transplant has to be done. Else, the patient loses sight for life. </p>.<p>There are approximately 30 eye banks in Bengaluru. Narayana Nethralaya, from March to August, collected only 39 eyes as opposed to more than 700 eyes during the same time in 2019. Out of the 40 patients waiting for corneal transplant, 15 are children. </p>.<p>Sankara Nethralaya saw 150 corneal donations during the same period last year. The number has come down to 60 this year. Thirty children and 20 adults have been waiting for three to six months, with not a single corneal donation in the past one month.</p>.<p>As much as 50% of the kids and 5% of the adults are bilaterally blind. In 20% cases, the faster the surgery is done, higher are the chances of getting vision back. </p>.<p>Shekar Eye Hospital had 18 donations during the same period last year. This is down to two this year and the waiting list has 24 patients. </p>.<p>“It is important to raise awareness about eye donation. Families of people expiring due to non-Covid reasons should voluntarily contact eye banks and donate their loved one’s eyes, as we are in a desperate situation. The pandemic has affected people with eye infections and ulcers. Our waiting time for a cornea has increased from 48 hours to four days,” said Dr Rohit Shetty, vice chairman and cornea-refractive surgeon at Narayana Nethralaya.</p>.<p>Dr Anand Balasubramaniam, senior consultant, cornea and cataract services, Sankara Nethralaya, said, “Due to the scarcity of donor eyes, we have been using corneas only for treating infections and not vision improvement. The Eye Bank Association of India has asked us not to retrieve eyes from deceased people unless they are at hospitals and have Covid-negative test report. In the past four months, we haven’t done a single surgery for visual purposes, unless it’s an infection.”</p>.<p>Dr Rajashekar Y L, president of Karnataka Ophthalmic Society and medical director of Shekar Eye Hospital, told DH, “Corneal transplants have come down by more than 90%, because either people are not coming forward to donate eyes of the dead or there is no Covid-negative test report. The waiting list has lengthened.”</p>
