30,000 People Await Corneal Transplants to Regain Sight in Vietnam
Over 30,000 individuals suffering from corneal blindness are in urgent need of corneal transplant surgeries to regain their sight in Vietnam, the Central Eye Hospital in Hanoi said.
Dr. Pham Ngoc Dong, deputy director of the Central Eye Hospital, said that while corneal transplantation is accessible in Vietnam, the scarcity of donated corneas means that only a fraction of the demand is met.
Consequently, many are forced to live in blindness, waiting for corneal donations from deceased donors, he added.
At the Central Eye Hospital, nearly 1,000 people have registered for corneal transplants and the number is increasing. Since 2007, the hospital has received 963 donated corneas from 20 provinces across the country.