More than 30,000 blind people in Vietnam need corneal transplants

At the Central Eye Hospital, the list of people waiting for corneal transplants currently has nearly 1,000 people and will continue to increase. Corneal transplant surgery is the only method in the world today that can bring light to people who are blind due to corneal diseases.

Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Ngoc Dong, Deputy Director of the Central Eye Hospital, shared that corneal transplant surgery in Vietnam has reached an advanced and modern level, but due to the extremely scarce corneal source, the number of corneal donations in the past has only met a very small number compared to the actual demand, so many patients are having to accept living in blindness, waiting for the only source of corneas from donors after death.

Hơn 30.000 người mù tại Việt Nam cần được ghép giác mạc- Ảnh 1.

The ceremony to honor cornea donors was held by the Central Eye Hospital in Ninh Binh on January 5 (photo). This is an annual activity organized by the Central Eye Hospital since 2007, when Vietnam had the first person to voluntarily donate a cornea after death. That was an old woman in Con Thoi commune, Kim Son district, Ninh Binh province.

Up to now, Kim Son district has had 417 cornea donors out of 437 cornea donors in Ninh Binh province. This humanitarian gesture has spread, more and more localities have cornea donors such as: Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Quang Ninh, Ha Nam, Vinh Phuc, Bac Giang, Thai Binh, Bac Ninh...

Over the past 16 years (2007 - 2023), the country has had over 45,000 people register to donate corneas, of which 963 people donated corneas after death in 20 provinces and cities across the country. The Central Eye Hospital has received and transplanted hundreds of patients who were blind due to corneal diseases, helping them regain their sight.

According to the Central Eye Hospital, the cornea is a thin, transparent membrane that covers the front of the eyeball (equivalent to the black part of the eye), allowing light and images to pass through to converge on the back of the eye and from there transmit to the brain. The cornea is only taken from a donor within 6-8 hours of death.

The cornea donation and collection process takes place within 30 minutes, without affecting the shape of the donor's eyes or the funeral of the deceased.

After collection, the corneas are preserved at the Eye Bank and doctors at the Central Eye Hospital will perform transplant surgery for people who are blind due to corneal disease. One cornea donor can bring light to two blind people.

For information and registration to donate corneas, please contact: Eye Bank - Central Eye Hospital (85 Ba Trieu, Hanoi); hotline: 024.39454799; website: vnio.vn

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