Eye donation and transplantation which were severely hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are now witnessing a spike in the national capital Delhi.
According to Dr JS Titiyal, Chief of RP Centre, AIIMS, Delhi said, "COVID really killed the eye donation movement in the country during the first wave".
Dr Titiyal said that he had hoped to touch 3,000 transplantations per year, however, due to Covid-19, the target will take another nearly three years to achieve. "I was hoping that we might touch 3,000 transplantation in a year.
But then Covid came and the eye collection and donation plunged sharply," Dr Titiyal added. Last year 580 eye donations happened, he added, "It is 1/3rd of what we were doing earlier and there has been a three-fold increase in the number of cases which are being registered for transplantation, That means they are waiting for their turn for surgery".