Waiting list for eye transplantation at AIIMS, Delhi grows threefold after Covid-19 - Details here

New Delhi: The eye donations and transplantations have been badly hit by COVID, according to an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) expert. In an interview with news agency ANI, AIIMS experts on Wednesday informed the situation has seen an improvement with the decline in the COVID cases in the country. 

Dr JS Titiyal, Chief of RP Centre, AIIMS, Delhi said, "COVID really killed the eye donation movement in the country during the first wave of COVID. If COVID wave was going up, the collection or donation of eyes was going down."

The doctors at the hospital were hoping to touch 3,000 transplantations per year, said Dr Titiyal adding that due to COVID, the target will take another nearly three years to achieve.

"I was hoping that we might touch 3,000 transplantation in a year, which was my goal at that time. But there was a sudden COVID arrival and now last year we could hardly do around 580 cases, which is 1/3rd of what we were doing earlier and there has been a three-fold increase in the number of cases which are being registered for transplantation, that means they are waiting for their turn for surgery," he said.

Dr JS Titiyal informed that the donation has shown some uptick with the decline in the number of COVID cases.

"Now, fortunately, COVID is almost plateauing, similarly eye donation and collection is increasing day by day, which is a good sign for the entire country. I hope that this will be maintained so that we can effectively increase our donation, collection and transplantation also," he said.

AIIMS has capacity to conduct 5000-6000 eye surgeries per year: Expert

According to the data, 2,500 tissues and more than 1,700 eye surgeries were conducted in the year 2018-2019. AIIMS has the capacity to conduct 5000-6000 per year.

"If I see on national eye bank data before COVID in 2019. We had the maximum number of transplantation and collection at that time," Dr Titiyal said.

"So, it is a real challenge for a subsequent time to come. For us. Unfortunately, we get patients from across the country because of the faith they have in AIIMS treatment. But the collection is not increasing," he added.

AIIMS Delhi likely to develop mobile app for eye patients

AIIMS is developing a mobile app for eye patients to create awareness about hospital admission, transplantation and post-surgery follow-up.

Dr JS Titiyal, Chief, RP centre, AIIMS, Delhi said, "I think it`s a demand of time. COVID has also made us realise that you have to approach people in a different manner because a physical approach may be difficult sometimes. It`s only for people coming from far-off places."

"If we could be able to develop this app, phone based app where we can have the direct interaction with the patient and we are going to have a camera system in that which can take the photograph of the eye, especially the interior part, cornea, and this picture we can see in the national eye bank, which is 24 hours working every day and report back to patient if they are suffering for some disease. If they have been registered with us, we can tell them what is their timeframe for coming for admission and transplantation," Dr Titiyal added.

The doctor further informed that the app will be an AIIMS entity only and it will be a simple app. "This app is going to be AIIMS entity because this is not the very extraordinary type, it will be a simple app where you are going to have a photographic relationship. Fortunately, in India now every corner is connected with Wi-Fi. Everybody has a smartphone nowadays. So this is going to be a simple approach," said Dr Titiyal. 

AIIMS to run various awareness campaigns for eye donations

Meanwhile, AIIMS will be running various awareness campaigns for eye donations that include "Run for Eye Donation" which will be joined by the faculty, residents, students and staff of AIIMS on September 8. 

(With agency inputs)