A memorandum of understanding on corneal transplant cooperation and training was inked Nov. 7 in Taipei City by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and National Eye Bank of Taiwan with SightLife, bringing Taiwan a step closer toward regional leadership in the field.
Under the five-year pact, which makes Taiwan the second partner of SightLife in Asia after India, the U.S.-based nonprofit health organization dedicated to eliminating corneal blindness worldwide will provide local medical professionals with the latest corneal transplant training and assist NEBT in gaining international accreditation.
Dr. Tsai Sen-tien, vice minister of the MOHW, said the memorandum will equip Taiwan’s medical professionals with advanced techniques and assist NEBT in becoming a model facility in the region.
Echoing Tsai’s remarks, Dr. Hu Fung-rong of the Department of Ophthalmology at National Taiwan University Hospital, said the founding of NEBT in 2013 gave more locals hope of recovering their vision and living normal lives.
“Taiwan has made tremendous improvement in the areas of corneal surgery and preservation since the eye bank was set up,” Hu said, citing a spike in cornea donations from 224 in 2012 to 397 in 2015.
NEBT aims to advance corneal transplant procedures and research, as well as cultivate highly skilled specialists in the field. It receives funding from the MOHW and is affiliated with the Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center. The northern and southern offices are located at NTUH in Taipei and National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Tainan City, respectively.
SightLife works with more than 30 countries to increase the number of corneal transplants performed annually. According to the MOHW, 493 of the procedures have been carried out so far this year in Taiwan. In 2015, the number was 733, up from 693 the year before. (SCK-E)
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