Correspondent
IMPHAL, January 22
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]hija Hospital and Research Institute (SHRI) created another history in Manipur’s health care services arena by successfully performing cornea transplantation on a blind person due to corneal opacity at its eye care unit at Langol complex near Imphal on Tuesday.
This was announced by the Chairman and Managing Director of SHRI Dr Khundongbam Palin during a press conference at the auditorium of the hospital at Langol this afternoon.
The cornea transplantation operation was successfully conducted by the hospital’s eye specialist Dr Sachindra Laishram on Tuesday.As a result a 68 year old eye patient Khangembam Ningthemjao Meitei of Keinou Thongkha ward number 5 who had been suffering from visual problems since childhood, has a better sight today.
According to Dr Sachindra, the cornea was offered by a renown Guwahati based eye care centre-Shri Shankaradeva Netralaya(SSN) Beltola via air.Cornea is harvested within four hours of death of the donor.
The cost of the cornea transplant is affordable comparing to the other organ transplant and also comparing to other parts of the country.
It costs around Rs 20,000 to 30,000 against Rs 60,000 to 70,000 in metros and it took around 1 to 2 hours in conducting the operation.
Manipur and North Eastern states need more eye donors in order to give eyes to many blind individuals as two eyes donated by the donor can give sight to two corneal blind, according to Dr Sachindra.
Some human organs including cornea, kidney, lungs, liver, heart, bone marrow, skin etc could be transplanted. In India, only about 2000-2500 corneas are available from donors against the requirement of more than 10,000 corneas for transplantation in a year. Maximum corneal transplantation is done in South India.
It may be mentioned that Manipur state assembly had also passed Transplantation of human organs Act 1994 on March 25, 1999.
Presently, there is no functional eye bank in Manipur. Shija has initiated preparation for establishing eye bank in the state.The Shija Eye Care Foundation has already sent one technician for training of eye banking and another counselor will also be sent shortly.
