Sri Lankan corneas suspended

BANDUNG: The Indonesian Eye Bank (BMI) has decided to stop importing corneas from Sri Lanka starting this month following increases in the cost of transporting and preserving the corneas, an eye bank official said here on Tuesday.

Soetadi Martodihardjo, head of the eye bank's implementation department, said that transport and preservation costs previously amounted to US$50 per cornea. "Last year they increased to $100 and have now risen again to $200. I don't know why."

"We'll look to the United States where we can get corneas for free," he told reporters after installing new staff members in the eye bank's Bandung branch.

Sri Lanka has been the principal supplier of corneas and only a small number of corneas are currently imported from the U.S., the Netherlands and India, while an even smaller number is obtained from domestic sources.

According to Soetadi, Indonesia has obtained corneas from San Diego and the Central Florida Lions Eye Center in the U.S. for free.

He said that 4.5 million people out of Indonesia's total population of 214 million suffered from blindness. "Eleven percent of these 4.5 million people suffer from damaged corneas." (25/sur)