VIJAYAWADA: Cornea collection centres will come up at all the district headquarters in the State soon. The number of cornea blindness among the people is on the rise following increased pollution and unsafe circumstances. To overcome this, the Indian Red Cross Society-Andhra Pradesh branch has initiated measures to establish collection centres in collaboration with LV Prasad Eye Institute.
Of them, the first cornea collection centre at Eluru will be inaugurated by Governor and Indian Red Cross Society-Andhra Pradesh president Bhiswa Bhushan Harichandan on Saturday.Commonly occurring infections, diseases and eye injuries can damage cornea and many a times interfere with vision by blocking or distorting light with scars and discolouration of the cornea. It is estimated that there are around seven lakh people in the State suffering from cornea-related issues such as keratitis, ocular herpes and herpes zoster. Viral infections can also damage cornea and lead to nearly 20 types of corneal dystrophies.
Speaking to TNIE, Indian Red Cross Society chairman Dr A Sridhar Reddy said that healthy corneas are collected from bodies of healthy persons of one to 90 years of age within 9 hours of death or within 24 hours if the body is kept in a freezer.
Currently, there are around 21 eye banks and 40 cornea collection centres in the State, mainly run by NGOs. Some government hospitals like Guntur GGH also have collection and transplantation facilities. Eye banks have storage and transplantation facilities also, whereas collection centres can only collect and send corneas to nearby transplantation facilities. Dr LV Prasad Eye Institute, Vijayawada, cornea recovery specialist KVSRK Sai Kumar said that every month about 200 to 300 corneas will be collected across the State