Outcome of Involvement of MBBS Interns in Eye Donation in Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme (HCRP)

Abstract Purpose: To compare Number of Eye Donation with and without involvement of Interns in Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme (HCRP) and to compare the outcome in terms of Grade of Cornea, Utility, Death to Eye collection time. Methodology: It is a Retrospective study in which data collected from July 2021-June 2022 is compared between data collected from July 2022-June 2023.From July 2022 Interns were instructed to motivate for eye donation from at least 2 hospital deaths within the duration of their 15 days posting. Results: Total number of Eye Donation done between July 2021-June2022 was 36,out of which 23 corneas(64%) were of Grade 1, 9 corneas(25%)were of Grade 2,3 corneas(8%) were of Grade 3 and 1cornea(3%) was Grade 4. Average time interval between death to eye collection was 2hours.Out of total 36 Corneas, 11 corneas(31%) were utilized for Therapeutic Penetrating Keratoplasty(TPK), 9 corneas(25%) were utilized for Optical Penetrating Keratoplasty (OPK) and 16 corneas(44%) were used for Practice with Utility ratio being 56%.The Total number of Eye Donation between July2022-June2023 was 76.Out of which 43 corneas(56%) were of Grade1,25 corneas(33%) were of Grade2,6 corneas were of Grade 3(8%),2 corneas(3%) were of grade 4.Average time interval between death to eye collection was 2hours,Out of Total 76 corneas 27 corneas(36%) were utilized for TPK,17 corneas(22%) were utilized for OPK and 32(42%) corneas were used for Practice with Utility ratio being 58%. Conclusion: Involvement of interns in HCRP doubled the number of Eye collection. However, there is no significant difference in terms of Grade of Cornea, Utility, Death to Eye collection time. The inclusion of interns as active motivators in HCRP can serve as a sustainable and impactful strategy to bridge the existing gap between cornea demand and availability, ultimately helping to reduce the burden of corneal blindness in India.