Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has called on Nigerians to donate their corneas, the transparent layer forming the front of the eyes at death for the benefit of people living with vision loss.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of LASUTH, Prof. David Adewale Oke, made this call in an interview he granted The Guardian where he talked of the institution’s resolve to conduct cornea implants to reduce the number of people affected by partial and total blindness.
A corneal transplant corrects several eye problems. And Oke’s call followed the recent corneal transplant the hospital successfully conducted on three persons; Emma Akana, Sikiru Akinbanjo and Friday Akagbue.
Oke said one of the factors inhibiting donations of organs at death among Nigerians was cultural belief.
He told the newspaper, “At first, we got a lot of resistance, especially relating to our culture like some people saying if you remove my eyes and give to somebody, when I come back in the next world will I still have it? In spite of this, however, a lot of patients have benefitted from the eye bank. Today they can see, and a lot of people are signing on, indicating their interest in donating their cornea when they die.”
