An Eye on the Future

Bolstered by a committed staff and transparent practices,HV Desai Eye Bank is the only one from Maharashtra to be awarded an accreditation by SightLife,a top US-based eye bank.

The sanitised environs of a medical establishment are rarely comforting. But after the dusty and bumpy ride up to HV Desai Eye Bank on Mohammadwadi road in Hadapsar,the genteel alleys will seem like a warm embrace. In the past five years since its inception,the eye bank has emerged a leader among all others in the state in quality functionality and transparent practices.

In the year 2010,HV Desai was one among the nine eye banks around the country,and the only one from Maharshtra,to be chosen for training and subsequent audit by Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI) and SightLife,a top US-based eye bank. “It was to check if the top players were doing the right thing,” says Dr Pranav More,eye bank director at HV Desai. After a February 2011 audit,HV Desai became the only eye bank in Maharashtra to have been awarded a SightLife accreditation which is valid till May 2012.

The accreditation process has inspired a few changes at the eye bank. Earlier only dependent on community-based donations of corneal tissues,the eye bank has been advised to take a more hospital- centric approach. “Community-based donation is the crux of eye banking in India,” explains Dr More. “Our Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme (HRCP) has improved drastically in comparison to community-based donations,which have remained more or less the same.” The eye bank currently has tie-ups with Poona Hospital,Inlaks Budhrani and Sahyadri Hospital. If the model has to be extended,then more counselors,who can advise and encourage families to donate eyes of a deceased loved one,need to be recruited at the hospitals.

HV Desai is playing a vital role in showing the way to better functionality. The bank sends quarterly updates and reports to the EBAI,and has always been specific about its donation numbers,which touched a high point of 600 last year. There are seven registered eye banks,including HV Desai,in the city,and most run on self-regulation. “The fact is,EBAI may approve the lease for a bank to collect,but the bank may not use those tissues. What EBAI and SightLife are now trying to do is raise the bar,not only in terms of how to generate good quality tissues,increase the number of donations,but also start regulation of activities,” says Dr More.

The biggest strength of HV Desai is its staff. Dr More’s role is more regulatory,while he and eye bank manager,Shilpa Joshi,are also the cornea transplant surgeons. Satish Kurpad is the eye bank technician responsible for negotiating donations. “On an average,we have one donor a day,that makes it about 30 every month. I check the corneas’ health to determine whether they can be used for optical or therapeutic transplant,or if at all,” informs Kurpad. This is one detail that Dr More emphasises. “One message that doesn’t go down well with people is the fact that a wish for donation is not a wish for transplantation. It’s a decision of the technician alone whether a corneal tissue can be transplanted,” he says.

Urmila Prabhune is the eye bank counselor at HV Desai,a critical role that will widen as the bank’s HCRP focus increases. She has been the deft handler of grievance counseling at the hospitals,talking to families face-to-face as well as over the phone.

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