The Hanoitimes - The Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) held a ceremony to announce the launching of an Eye Bank in Hanoi o­n March 30.

This is the first eye and tissue bank in the Vietnam since the Law o­n the Donation and Transplantation of Human Tissues and Organs came into effect o­n July 1, 2007.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu emphasised that health care is an extremely important task, including eye care. The establishment of the bank will help meet the demands of hundreds of blind people who are waiting for cornea transplants.

The VNIO has so far received 136 corneas from 69 people, and 10,437 people have registered to donate their corneas when they pass away. However, more than 300,000 blind people are still waiting for a cornea transplant.

The Eye Bank is a non-profitable organisation and will operate under humanitarian methods. It has been established after close coordination between the VNIO and the ORBIS organisation. In 2005, with the support of ORBIS, the VNIO began to set up the bank using US$500,000 of funding to improve treatments for cornea disease.

Any o­ne who wants to donate their corneas can contact the Eye Bank at its hotline 04 39454799.