Singapore will take the lead in the setting up of an Asian-wide body, which will look into corneal transplants and promoting high-quality banking practices.

The Republic’s role in the forming of the Association of Eye Banks of Asia (AEBA) will see it coordinating with members to increase corneal donation and establish shared corneal tissue programmes among Asian countries.

This was announced by Professor Donald Tan, medical director of both the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) and the Singapore Eye Bank (SEB), at the official launch of the SEB expansion and the Lee Kong Chian Centre of Excellence for Cornea, Eye Banking and Eye Diseases (Exceed) yesterday.

Corneal diseases represent the second major cause of blindness globally after cataract.

About 12 million people in the world today are blind from corneal diseases. In Asia, the incidence of corneal blindness in children is 20 times higher than in the West.

The coordinated efforts of AEBA will hopefully help reduce that figure.

Singapore is among Asia’s leaders in the development of the corneal ophthalmic sub-specialty and corneal transplant – which involves removing the central portion of the diseased cornea and replacing it with a matching donor’s to restore sight.

The success rate for corneal grafts is 93 per cent for one-year graft survival. To date, 3,500 transplants have been performed.

As part of the Asian initiative, Singapore will also co-develop a new National Eye Bank with Sri Lanka that will see patients here – and in Asia – stand a better chance of finding a match faster.

Singapore and Sri Lanka go back a long way when it comes to corneal donation, dating back to 1964 when the Ceylon Eye Donation Society donated three pairs of corneas that helped restore the sight of six Singaporeans.

With Sri Lanka’s help, the hope is to get Singapore to emulate the country’s 100 per cent donor rate and to cut the waiting time for a donor cornea, currently between one and two weeks.

Said Prof Tan: “The donor rate for local transplants now stands at 40 per cent, and the rest comes from the United States and other international banks. We need to bring eye banking to the next level by cooperating with our neighbours.”

He added that when completed, the new bank in Sri Lanka will be an international model for Asia, with the “potential capacity to restore the sight of more than 3,000 patients a year.”

Dr Charith Fonseka, who will co-chair the new National Eye Bank of Sri Lanka, said that Singapore can help provide expertise and funding as Sri Lanka tries to keep up with developments in international quality standards and new medical protocols.

Funding for the collaboration and forming of AEBA came from the Lee and Temasek foundations.

The Lee Foundation’s $5 million and the Temasek Foundation’s $140,000 also contributed to the expansion of SEB and the setting up of Exceed.

Exceed will concentrate on training, education and research in eye banking, corneal diseases and transplantation.