RAWALPINDI, Aug 08 (APP):More than 300,000 people suffering from corneal blindness in Pakistan are awaiting sight-restoring transplants, while Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital performs only around 800 corneal transplant procedures annually, highlighting a significant gap between demand and the availability of donor corneas. Al-Shifa Trust, one of the country’s major corneal transplant centres, has called for greater public awareness about eye donation, saying Pakistan continues to rely on imported donor corneas …
Over 300,000 Pakistanis await corneal transplants amid donor shortage
RAWALPINDI, Aug 08 (APP):More than 300,000 people suffering from corneal blindness in Pakistan are awaiting sight-restoring transplants, while Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital performs only around 800 corneal transplant procedures annually, highlighting a significant gap between demand and the availability of donor corneas.
Al-Shifa Trust, one of the country’s major corneal transplant centres, has called for greater public awareness about eye donation, saying Pakistan continues to rely on imported donor corneas due to limited local donations and the absence of a coordinated nationwide eye-banking system.
Talking to media, Al-Shifa Trust President Maj Gen (Retd) Rehmat Khan said the shortage of donated corneas had left hundreds of thousands of patients without access to transplantation.
He urged people to pledge their eyes for donation after death, saying a single donor could potentially restore sight to two people.
Khan said Pakistan performs only around 1,500 corneal transplants annually, compared with about 185,000 procedures performed each year globally in 116 countries, according to an international survey.
He said international partnerships had helped sustain corneal transplantation services in Pakistan, with US-based Eversight partnering with Al-Shifa since 2017 to support corneal donation and eye-banking services.
He stressed the need for stronger public-sector investment in donor registration, cornea retrieval, preservation and distribution to expand access to transplantation.
Khan said corneal transplantation was among the more successful forms of tissue transplantation as the cornea has no blood vessels, reducing the risk of rejection and making close donor-recipient matching unnecessary in many cases.
He added that corneas donated by elderly people could also restore sight to much younger recipients.
Dr Omar Farooq, Manager of the Al-Shifa Eye Bank, said delays in treatment could have serious social and economic consequences, particularly for children and working-age adults.
He said children suffering from corneal blindness could be deprived of education, while adults could lose their ability to work and support their families.
The hospital called for greater public awareness of eye donation and stronger institutional arrangements for cornea retrieval, preservation and distribution to reduce Pakistan’s dependence on imported donor tissue.
