Jammu: Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has awarded the Department of Ophthalmology, Government Medical College Jammu with registration of its Eye Bank, Corneal Transplant and Retrieval Facility in J&K under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act and Tissues Act 1994, THOTA.
The registration has been granted for five years.
Now the corneal transplantation is expected to start soon.
Principal and Dean, GMC Jammu Dr Shashi Sudhan Sharma congratulated Dr Satish Gupta, Head Ophthalmology Department, Dr Shazia Wafai, Senior Regional Director, H&FW, GoI, and Dr Sanjeev Puri, Joint Director, SOTTO (J&K) and his team for their sincere efforts for this achievement.
Sharma said that with the establishment of a corneal transplant centre, it would be easy for people to get transplants in Jammu without waiting for long.
“The department is well-prepared to start corneal transplantation again,” she said.
A three-member expert team from DGHS, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi had inspected the Eye Bank, Corneal Transplantation and Retrieval Facility of GMC Jammu in the Department of Ophthalmology in February and found it as per the prescribed parameters of GoI under the THOTA, 1994.
Earlier, GMC Jammu had got the provisional registration from the Licensing Authority of Directorate of Health Services, Jammu under the J&K Transplantation of Human Organ Act, 1997.
The department has already conducted 21 corneal transplants.