Eye Banking Protocol
EYE BANK COORDINATION & RESEARCH CENTRE (EBCRC) was established in March 1995 with an ambition to give sight to the “corneally blind”. This centre started with the hope of bringing international eye banking standards to India and it was the encouragement and support from the International Federation of Eye & Tissue Banks (IFETB), Baltimore, Maryland, USA that made it possible to change the face of eye banking in India. In fact, we are proud to be one of the 39 Members of EYE BANKS of the IFETB, USA. With detailed scientific procedures laid down by the IFETB for Eye Banks worldwide, EBCRC today stands a class apart not only in terms of eye banking protocols but also in terms of automation, public relations, awareness campaigns and strategic planning for the next millenium.
By the end of Dec 2015, EBCRC has given more than 9700 high equality for cornea. EYE BANK COORDINATION AND RESEARCH CENTRE (EBCRC) is a non-government, autonomous, charitable organisation which has received complete tax exemption under the Indian Income Tax Act – Section 35 AC and 80 G. EBCRC is a Member of The International Federation of Eye & Tissue Banks, Baltimore, Maryland, USA and Eye Bank Association of India, Hyderabad, India.
EBCRC has launched a project “EyeHope” which dreams of making every corneally blind person see. The project “EyeHope” is a highly cherished gift from EBCRC to the vast corneally blind community. 2.5 million people in India are corneally blind and the number swells at a high rate every year. 60% of these are children. The number of eye donations required for combating corneal blindness is atleast 1,50,000 pairs of eyes per year as against a mere 7,500 pairs donated all over the country.
The centre has been set up in 1995 with the primary objective of testing, evaluating and processing the corneas received from the various eye banks in Mumbai and distributing the processed corneas found viable for corneal transplantation to needy/poor patients awaiting corneal grafting surgery aimed at restoring their vision. Since 1995 we have processed more than 33,000 eyes received from various eye banks in mumbai and we spend approximately Indian Rupees 9500/- per cornea. These corneas are given GRATIS to patients from the poor strata of society and our funding has been mainly from philanthropic institutions and individuals. We want to focus now on providing corneas to children who have reversible corneal blindness. These young individuals will grow up to be productive and independent in our society.