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Ranchi: In a step towards improving eye-care services in the state, the health, medical education and family welfare department on Tuesday approved three hospitals, including a private healthcare facility, to conduct corneal transplants.With the latest approvals, the number of hospitals authorised to perform corneal transplantation in Jharkhand has risen to 11.The advisory committee of the department, set up under the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 2011, granted approval to Jamshedpur’s Tata Main Hospital and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital (MGMMCH), Ranchi’s IRIS Super Speciality Eye Care Centre to conduct a corneal transplant.The approvals were granted for a period of five years, after scrutinising their proposals in accordance with technical and legal standards. Meanwhile, registration was not granted to the other two institutions because trained human resources and medical equipment were not found to meet the required standards.During a high-level review meeting of the committee held on Tuesday, MGMMCH was also approved to establish and operate an eye bank for a period of five years.
Health department’s additional chief secretary Ajoy Kumar Singh said that the move is aimed at strengthening organ and tissue transplantation services in Jharkhand and ensuring that patients receive quality and timely treatment within the state, reducing the need to travel outside for specialised eye care services.However, health experts rued that the lack of adequate transplant facilities across the state and the proper functioning of the existing facilities continue to plague many patients who need cornea transplantation.Dr Sunil Kumar, head of the ophthalmology department at Rims and member of the health department’s advisory committee, told TOI, “Although with the inclusion of the three facilities, it increased to 11, only two facilities – Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO) in Rims and Kashyap Eye Hospital in Ranchi- are actively conducting cornea transplantation. All medical colleges in Jharkhand must have transplantation facilities.
Dhanbad Medical College was also approved last year for transplantation, but no transplantation took place in a year.”He added that the state needs to set up more corneal transplant facilities to benefit more people. “As most of the centres are situated in just Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad districts, patients from other districts are left out,” Dr Kumar added.Dr Manisha Kujur, state nodal officer of State Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (SOTTO), said that organ and tissue donation pledges are comparatively low in the state.
“To address the issue, volunteers at Rims encourage families of brain-dead and cardiac dead patients to donate cornea and many have volunteered for it. Rims eye bank has ample corneas available and anyone requiring corneal transplantation, they can visit RIO in Rims and they can get assessed and avail the transplantation,” Kujur added.GFX-Rims Eye Bank conducted over 200 cornea transplants from 2018 till dateRims conducted 92 corneal transplantations in 2025Corneal transplantation costs Rs 40,000-80,000 at private facilities in RanchiTotal Corneal transplantation units in the state- 111. Regional Institute of Ophthalmology RIMS,2. Dristi Eye Bank, Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College Hospital, Dhanbad.3. Bokaro General Hospital Bokaro, Eye Bank, Government undertaking.4. Kashyap memorial, Ranchi5. Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Hospital6. ASG, Eye Hospital, Ranchi7. Jamshedpur Eye Hospital, Jamshedpur.8. Daulat Super Speciality Eye Centre, Jamshedpur9. Tata Main Hospital, Jamshedpur10. Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, Jamshedpur11. IRIS Super Speciality Eye Care Centre RanchiEOM
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