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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Three people likely to see again after corneal transplant

By M. Waqar Bhatti
March 21, 2019

A team of surgeons and technicians at the Spencer’s Eye Hospital on Wednesday grafted three corneas donated by donors from Sri Lanka to two men and a women, likely enabling them to see the world again within next few days after they had completely lost their eyesight due to disease and accidents.

The surgeons’ team was led by ophthalmologist (eye specialist) Dr Birbal Genani. “Today, we performed three eye transplant surgeries at Spencer Eye Hospital after we got donation of three corneas from Sri Lanka, which were handed over to the hospital yesterday at a ceremony,” he said. Dr Genani is the medical superintendent (MS) at the eye hospital and also serves as senior director health and medical services at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

The three corneas were donated to the Spencer’s Eye Hospital by the Sri Lankan Eye Donation Society through the Lions of Pakistan (Lions Club Pakistan). The hospital received the corneas from Lions Club’s Abubakar Karim and Arshad Islam during a ceremony attended by Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, Dr Genani and others. Corneal transplants were resumed at the eye hospital in Lyari after 15 years in February this year when a team of eye surgeons grafted four corneas to patients who had lost their sight due to disease and accidents.

The MS said the three recipients of the donated corneas were selected by a committee comprising senior eye specialists, including Dr Niaz Brohi, a life member of the Sri Lankan Eye Donation Society. The recipients included a 20-year-old man, another man in his 30s and a widow, Dr Genani said, adding that the persons were selected on the basis of their age and productivity in later life.

The ophthalmologist thanked the Lions of Pakistan for helping the KMC resume corneal grafting at the eye hospital after several years. People of Pakistan should also be grateful to their Sri Lankan friends who donate their corneas for thousands of people who lose their eyesight due to a variety of reasons, he said.

Since February this year, seven patients have been grafted corneas donated by Sri Lanka and brought to Pakistan by the Lions Club Pakistan, which is helping the eye hospital continue with corneal transplants, laser-assisted surgeries, and treatment and prevention of different ailments of eye.

It is a glad moment for the people of Karachi as the facility of corneal transplant has resumed at the Spencer’s Eye Hospital free of charge, Dr Genani said, adding that they were now able to perform different complicated surgeries at the eye hospital which cost thousands of rupees at private health facilities.

According to the MS, the eye hospital was once one of the leading health facilities in the region where people from across Pakistan and even Afghanistan used to come to avail medical services, but due to negligence it lost its past glory over time.

“But now we have revived glories of this hospital by restarting corneal transplants and Phaco surgery. We are providing these services as well as medicines free of charge with the help of philanthropists, but we need the government’s support to make it a world-class facility once again,” he maintained.

According to him, the patients who underwent the corneal grafting on Wednesday would be able to see within next few days.