Eye donation at a newly established eye bank of a government medical college of eastern India: a three-year retrospective analysis of sources, retrieval logistics and tissue utilisation

Saubhik Chattopadhyay; Anil Kumar Ghanta; Ophelia Mukherjee

doi:10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20263377

Authors

Saubhik Chattopadhyay Susrut Eye Foundation and Research Centre, Berhampore, West Bengal, India https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1345-5675
Anil Kumar Ghanta Department of Ophthalmology, Mandakini Medical College and Hospital, Ranaghat, West Bengal, India
Ophelia Mukherjee Department of Community Medicine, Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital, Rampurhat, West Bengal, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20263377

Keywords:

Corneal blindness, Eye banking, Eye donation, Health services accessibility, Hospital cornea retrieval programme, Tissue donors

Abstract

Background: Corneal blindness is a priority avoidable condition whose treatment depends entirely on donated tissue. We reported three years of donor tissue procurement at a newly established peripheral government eye bank in a densely populated, district of eastern India, examining the sources, geography and logistics of retrieval.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed all 320 eye donations received from the eye bank’s inception (8 April 2022) to 31 March 2025. Donations were classified by procurement source- external non-governmental organisation (NGO) eye retrieval centre (ERC), local NGO ERC or own hospital cornea retrieval programme (HCRP)- and by district of origin. Retrieval intervals were compared across sources by Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests, and utilisation derived by linking donors to keratoplasties performed.

Results: The 320 donors yielded 638 corneas. Despite continuous information-education-communication activity, local procurement remained minimal: only 74 donors (23.1%) came from the host district and 7 (2.2%) through the hospital’s own HCRP, while 245 (76.6%) were retrieved by a single external NGO ERC in a neighbouring district. Consequently 318 donors (99.4%) were Hindu, although the host district was Muslim-majority. Donors were elderly (mean 72.3±12.2 years; 87.2% aged ≥60 years). Mean death-to-enucleation was 3.71±1.56 hours, but transport differed markedly by source (4.31 versus 1.67 versus 0.90 hours; p<0.001), reaching 16 hours. Only 309 corneas (48.4%) were used for keratoplasty.

Conclusions: Local eye donation remained persistently low despite sustained awareness activity, obliging near-total dependence on an external retrieval centre in a neighbouring district. The resulting long transport times, with advanced donor age, define twin priorities of community-specific engagement and logistic strengthening.

References

Whitcher JP, Srinivasan M, Upadhyay MP. Corneal blindness: a global perspective. Bull World Health Organ. 2001;79(3):214-21.

Gain P, Jullienne R, He Z, Aldossary M, Acquart S, Cognasse F, et al. Global survey of corneal transplantation and eye banking. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2016;134(2):167-73.

Kate A, Basu S. Corneal blindness in the developing world: the role of prevention strategies. F1000Res. 2024;12:1309.

Gupta V, Vashist P, Sarath S, Gupta N, Senjam SS, Shukla P, et al. Burden of blindness and visual impairment associated with corneal opacities in India. Br J Ophthalmol. 2025;109(7):829-36.

Gupta N, Vashist P, Ganger A, Tandon R, Gupta SK. Eye donation and eye banking in India. Nat Med J India. 2018;31(5):283-6.

Christy JS, Bhadari AH, Mathews P, Srinivasan M, Vanathi M. Evolution of eye banking in India- a review. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2023;71(9):3132-41.

Sharma N, Arora T, Singhal D, Maharana PK, Garg P, Nagpal R, et al. Procurement, storage and utilization trends of eye banks in India. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2019;67(7):1056-9.

Anitha V, Tandon R, Shah SG, Radhakrishnan N, Singh S, Murugesan V, et al. Corneal blindness and eye banking: current strategies and best practices. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2023;71(9):3142-8.

Marmamula S, Priya R, Varada R, Keeffe JE. Awareness on eye donation in the north-eastern state of Tripura, India- the Tripura Eye Survey. Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 2022;29(4):460-4.

Singh A, Gupta N, Ganger A, Vashist P, Tandon R. Awareness regarding eye donation in an urban slum population: a community-based survey. Exp Clin Transplant. 2018;16(6):730-5.

Ronanki VR, Sheeladevi S, Ramachandran BP, Jalbert I. Awareness regarding eye donation among stakeholders in Srikakulam district in South India. BMC Ophthalmol. 2014;14:25.

Vijayalakshmi S, Sundaram R, Rizvana S, Aswin A, Srividhya S, Sooriya S, et al. Assessing knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding organ donation among the general population in Perambalur, India: a cross-sectional study. Cureus. 2025;17(3):e80410.

Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Census of India 2011: district census handbook, Murshidabad, West Bengal, 2011. Available at: https://censusindia.gov.in. Accessed on 2 September 2026.

Arya SK, Raj A, Deswal J, Kohli P, Rai R. Donor demographics and factors affecting corneal utilisation in eye bank of North India. Int Ophthalmol. 2021;41(5):1773-81.

Sinha S, Sinha RK, Nishant P. Profile of donors and corneal tissue obtained through hospital cornea retrieval programme in a recently established eye bank of a tertiary care teaching hospital of Eastern India. J Fam Med Prim Care. 2021;10(6):2195-201.

Runda N, Ganger A, Gupta N, Singh A, Vashist P, Tandon R. Knowledge and attitude towards eye donation among health professionals of northern India. Nat Med J India. 2019;32(1):9-12.

Parija S, Chakraborty K, Sahu DP. A study on knowledge, attitude, and practice about eye donation among medical students and healthcare professionals at a tertiary hospital in Eastern India. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2023;71(11):3513-20.

Mudhol RR, Bullapur NH. Examining medical students’ and professionals’ perspectives on eye donation and corneal transplantation. Cureus. 2024;16(8):e67757.

Sharma B, Shrivastava U, Kumar K, Baghel R, Khan F, Kulkarni S. Eye donation awareness and conversion rate in hospital cornea retrieval programme in a tertiary hospital of central India. J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(8):NC12-5.

Wong LP. Information needs, preferred educational messages and channel of delivery, and opinion on strategies to promote organ donation: a multicultural perspective. Singapore Med J. 2010;51(10):790-5.

Alanazi LF, Aldossari SH, Gogandy MA, Althubaiti GA, Alanazi BF, Alfawaz AM. Attitude, beliefs and awareness towards corneal donation in Saudi Arabia. Saudi J Ophthalmol. 2019;33(2):121-9.

Hussen MS, Belete GT. Knowledge and attitude toward eye donation among adults, Northwest Ethiopia: a community-based, cross-sectional study. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol. 2018;25(3-4):126-30.

Subburaman GB, Kempen JH, Durairaj S, Balakrishnan V, Valaguru V, Namperumalsamy VP, et al. Making the decision to donate eyes: perspectives from the families of the deceased in Madurai, India. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2020;68(10):2094-8.

Patel D, Tandon R, Ganger A, Vij A, Lalwani S, Kumar A. Study of death to preservation time and its impact on utilisation of donor corneas. Trop Doct. 2017;47(4):365-70.