Out of thousands suffering from cornealdisease and at risk of going blind, Le Van Doanh, 20, was fortunateenough to receive a trans-planted cornea from a donated source.
Doanh suffered from a genetic corneal defect and began loosing hiseyesight when he was twelve years old. Last year, he passed theuniversity entrance exam, but with his eyes getting worse, Doanh wasunable to enroll in university.
After waiting desperately for a transplant for over a year, Doanh gotlucky. After a successful surgery, he will now be able to live the lifeof a normal student.
And it was only possible because someone had agreed to donate theircorneas.
The Eye Bank under the National Institute of Ophthalmology, the firstand the only eye bank in the country since it was opened in 2005,initially received 335 corneas from ORBIS, an international non-profitorganisation. ORBIS, however suspended the donation process last yeardue to the economic downturn, said the Eye Bank’s Dr Nguyen Huu Hoang.
“The main source of corneas is now in-country donation,” said Hoang.
But, he added, since the beginning of the year, the bank has receivedonly five cornea donations, providing transplants for ten patients. Withabout a thousand people are on the hospital’s waiting list to receivetransplants, the odds were long for most patients, Hoang said.
About 300,000 people go blind nationwide every year due to cornealdisease, he said. Another 15,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
The Eye Bank has thereforce collaborate with Red Cross organisationsto organise campaigns calling for people’s goodwill.
In other countries, such as the US and India, cornea donationshave only become popular in the last few decades. The idea has yet totake root in Vietnam, Hoang said.
“We get the corneas from the dead, Even though the law onlyrequires that we obtain the agreement of a person to donate before he orshe dies, in practice, without permission from that person’s family, wecannot get the corneas,” he said.
Le Duc Long from the northern province of Ninh Binh, whose wifepassed away in April of last year, donated her corneas even though hisfamily was against the idea. Long said his children were all crying andtried to keep the doctors from coming in to do the surgery after hiswife passed away.
“They all felt bad for their mum,” said Long. “They thought that thedoctor was going to take out her eyes.”
But, he said, “my family all watched the surgery and realised thatthey were only taking out the corneas, replacing them with plastic oneswhich did not make her eyes look different.”
There is still a strong belief system, however, that people want toremain complete after they die.
Even Doanh’s grandparents, despite the success of their grandson’stransplant, were upset when Doanh’s parents signed up to donate theirown corneas when they died and refused to donate their own.
“It’s hard to persuade them,” said Doanh. “They don’t want any part oftheir bodies to be taken out, and we respect their wishes.”
The Eye Bank, however, has not given up hope of changing culturalattitudes. Hoang believed that, with the cooperation of the educationand healthcare sectors, people would be increasingly open to cornea orother tissue donation.
In addition to working with the Red Cross, the bank expects tocollaborate with hospitals around the country to increase awarenessamong patients and staff.
“When a person passes away, they can bring vision back to two peopleand help reduce the burden on society,” said Hoang. “We hope that morepeople are aware of that and support our bank.”/.
Doanh suffered from a genetic corneal defect and began loosing hiseyesight when he was twelve years old. Last year, he passed theuniversity entrance exam, but with his eyes getting worse, Doanh wasunable to enroll in university.
After waiting desperately for a transplant for over a year, Doanh gotlucky. After a successful surgery, he will now be able to live the lifeof a normal student.
And it was only possible because someone had agreed to donate theircorneas.
The Eye Bank under the National Institute of Ophthalmology, the firstand the only eye bank in the country since it was opened in 2005,initially received 335 corneas from ORBIS, an international non-profitorganisation. ORBIS, however suspended the donation process last yeardue to the economic downturn, said the Eye Bank’s Dr Nguyen Huu Hoang.
“The main source of corneas is now in-country donation,” said Hoang.
But, he added, since the beginning of the year, the bank has receivedonly five cornea donations, providing transplants for ten patients. Withabout a thousand people are on the hospital’s waiting list to receivetransplants, the odds were long for most patients, Hoang said.
About 300,000 people go blind nationwide every year due to cornealdisease, he said. Another 15,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
The Eye Bank has thereforce collaborate with Red Cross organisationsto organise campaigns calling for people’s goodwill.
In other countries, such as the US and India, cornea donationshave only become popular in the last few decades. The idea has yet totake root in Vietnam, Hoang said.
“We get the corneas from the dead, Even though the law onlyrequires that we obtain the agreement of a person to donate before he orshe dies, in practice, without permission from that person’s family, wecannot get the corneas,” he said.
Le Duc Long from the northern province of Ninh Binh, whose wifepassed away in April of last year, donated her corneas even though hisfamily was against the idea. Long said his children were all crying andtried to keep the doctors from coming in to do the surgery after hiswife passed away.
“They all felt bad for their mum,” said Long. “They thought that thedoctor was going to take out her eyes.”
But, he said, “my family all watched the surgery and realised thatthey were only taking out the corneas, replacing them with plastic oneswhich did not make her eyes look different.”
There is still a strong belief system, however, that people want toremain complete after they die.
Even Doanh’s grandparents, despite the success of their grandson’stransplant, were upset when Doanh’s parents signed up to donate theirown corneas when they died and refused to donate their own.
“It’s hard to persuade them,” said Doanh. “They don’t want any part oftheir bodies to be taken out, and we respect their wishes.”
The Eye Bank, however, has not given up hope of changing culturalattitudes. Hoang believed that, with the cooperation of the educationand healthcare sectors, people would be increasingly open to cornea orother tissue donation.
In addition to working with the Red Cross, the bank expects tocollaborate with hospitals around the country to increase awarenessamong patients and staff.
“When a person passes away, they can bring vision back to two peopleand help reduce the burden on society,” said Hoang. “We hope that morepeople are aware of that and support our bank.”/.
