By
31st March 2023
Experts have blamed the delay by President Museveni to assent to the Organ Donation and Transplant Bill for the high number of people who continue losing their eyes due to in access to corneal tissue.
Dr. Lisbon Aliraki, an Ophthalmic Surgeon based at Mengo Hospital says they reviewed data at the hospital eye department and found that corneal conditions were the highest recorded cases in FY 2021/2022.
He says when they further reviewed their treatment data they established that many of the patients who needed emergency grafting ended up losing their eyes due to challenges in acquiring corneal tissue used to do the surgery.
Currently, in Uganda, corneal tissue is imported and the doctor says when an order is placed it takes two months or more to arrive in the country making it hard for them to handle cases requiring emergency surgery.
Aliraki who was speaking at the ongoing scientific conference organized by the Association of Surgeons of Uganda (ASOU) said Mengo hospital which runs one of the country’s biggest eye care centres has built a corneal bank to allow for storage of the cornea once there’s a law providing for organ donation and transplant.
The bill was passed by parliament in October 2022 but the president has not yet appended his signature to make it law.
Ministry of Health Statistics show that at least 225,000 Ugandans are blind and 34 per cent of these the reason is due to corneal conditions.
Next:
Previous:
