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New Delhi: In the campaign to promote eye donation and bring light to dark lives through corneal light, the National Eye Bank of AIIMS New Delhi is continuously setting new records. National Eye Bank on Tuesday, on the occasion of 41st National Eye Donation Fortnight, J.L. Special program organized in the auditorium. During this, families of eye donors, hospitals, non-governmental organizations and personnel associated with the eye bank were honoured.

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In the last 61 years, the National Eye Bank has collected more than 38 thousand corneas, while more than 28 thousand blind patients have been given new vision through cornea transplantation. During this period, more than 500 eye specialists were also given training in state-of-the-art cornea transplant techniques.

Collected 2167 corneas in 2025

The National Eye Bank collected 2,167 corneas in the year 2025, of which 1,775 or about 82 percent of the corneas were received through the hospital-based cornea collection programme. 1,775 cornea transplants were performed during the same period. For the fourth consecutive year, National Eye Bank has crossed the figure of more than 1,300 corneal transplants annually.

One donor brings light to many patients

One of the most important achievements of the National Eye Bank is the one donor, multiple patient model. New membrane separation techniques are making layer transplantation and stem cell treatments possible for many patients from a single donated cornea. This ensures maximum use of each donated cornea.

One eye donation brings smiles to many faces

In the year 2025, 631 optical keratoplasty were done at RP Centre. At the same time, more than 4,652 vials of indigenous cornea preservation medium Extorsol were made available to 130 eye banks in 24 states of the country.

Partnership with multiple hospitals

To strengthen the cornea collection, National Eye Bank has signed agreements with Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Indira Gandhi Hospital Dwarka and Northern Railway Central Hospital. Special initiatives are also being taken for cornea transplantation in children.

Now vision is returning rapidly due to modern technology

RP Center has adopted state-of-the-art technology like Sutureless DMEK. In this, only the functioning endothelial membrane of the cornea is transplanted, due to which the restoration of vision in patients can be relatively rapid. Along with this, research is also being done at the molecular level on diseases like keratoconus and Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy.

10 integrated vision centers will open in Delhi-NCR

Under the five-year partnership between AIIMS and Vision-Aid, 10 integrated vision centers will be set up in Delhi-NCR. A special resource center will also be created for cerebral visual impairment in children. To increase awareness about eye donation, continuous campaigns are being run in schools, colleges and residential areas. 'Walk for Eye Donation' was also organized on 25th August in AIIMS campus.

The families of eye donors as well as partner eye banks, hospitals and social organizations were honored in the programme. National Eye Bank was also awarded the National Award for outstanding contribution in the field of eye banking last year.