Source: China Science Daily, 2013-03-14 Page 2
Written by: Wen Caifei
Translated by: Zheng Xia

Corneal disease is quietly developing into the second serious ophthalmic disease in our country. According to statistics, there are at least 300,000 to 400,000 cases which need cornea transplantation. However, only about 5,000 patients actually have the operation every year.

Dennis Lam Shun-chiu, an NPC deputy from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and director of the State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Sun Yat-sen University, pointed out that the serious imbalance between cornea donation and demand is an important reason that leads to large area of blindness among corneal patients. He called for the establishment of active eye banks to turn the passive donation into an active one.

According to Professor Lam, domestic donation of corneas mainly adopts the “passive eye bank” model at present. In this way, the donators fill in the organ donation card to permit the removal of their corneas after they pass away. However, even though donors have signed the agreement at that time, their families would probably forget or not consent.

In the United States, hospitals will make a phone call to lobbyists in ophthalmology before the patients’ death, so that the lobbyists could inquire the patients about organ donation. In some states, this phone call is linked to the funding of the hospital in the next year.

In 1992, after the introduction of the American “active eye bank” model into Hong Kong, cornea donation rose from less than 10 cases to over 100 cases. In 2000, cornea donation reached 146 cases in Prince of Wales Hospital alone. Many patients and their families promoted cornea donation by using their own experience as an example to persuade others.

"Cornea donation also has a demonstration effect on the donation of other organs." Professor Lam explained. Compared with liver, kidney and heart, cornea donation is not limited to critically ill patients or brain-stem death. Corneas can be donated within the first 24 hours of death.

Statistics has indicated that about 70 percent of patients have the opportunity to regain eyesight through cornea transplantation. In Professor Lam’s opinion, setting up “active eye banks” is an irresistible trend.

"An active team is needed. They will not only look for dying patients to inquire about organ donation, but also encourage the donors and their families to persuade others, and release donation reports every 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months," said Professor Lam.

However, what worries him most is that, some hospitals would not add to their burden and refused to get the lobbyists involved in. “In fact, what the hospitals need to do is to inform the staff of the eye bank timely. Compared with every hospital sending their respective lobbyists, setting up one or two eye banks in a district to centralize the management will save more resources and increase efficiency.”