Corneal transplantation starting in a week at Spencer Eye Hospital
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KARACHI: Facility of corneal transplantation, a surgical procedure where a damaged or diseased cornea is replaced by donated corneal tissue, is being restored at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation-run Spencer Eye Hospital after a pause of 12 years as an international organisation offered provision of cornea.
Officials told Dawn that a delegation of Lions Club International led by its council chairman Abdul Karim held a meeting with city Mayor Wasim Akhtar and offered provision of cornea from Sri Lanka if the transplantation facility was restored in the municipal administration-run eye hospital, where over 73 corneal tissue transplants were conducted in the past.
They said that KMC’s senior director of health services Dr Beerbal, who also holds the charge of medical superintendent of Spencer Eye Hospital, and other senior KMC officials were also present in the meeting. The officials said that the club delegation also comprised Arshad Salam and Abdul Rehman Alana.
They said that the delegation informed participants in the meeting that their club imported cornea from Sri Lanka which incurred expenditure of $350 and the corneal transplantation came to around Rs70,000.
The officials said that the mayor directed Dr Beerbal to start work on the reestablishment of cornea transplantation facility in the Spencer Eye Hospital without any delay.
Talking to Dawn, the mayor said that the cornea transplant department would be restored within a week.
He said that it was unfortunate that this important facility was closed down and recalled that in the past Spencer Eye Hospital was among the famous eye hospitals in Asia where patients from Afghanistan, Iran and from all over the country were brought for corneal transplantation. The mayor said that younger patients should be given preference in this facility.
“The KMC will provide all possible cooperation and resources for this,” he added.
Mr Akhtar said that an agreement for provision of cornea would be signed shortly with the Lions Club International.
Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2018
