The EBAI was formed in 1989 with a mission to combat corneal blindness through public education on eye donation. But this doesn't mean that our role is confined to educating the public. We provide training to member eye banks and assist the research institutes to see that the technical standards of the procedure of retrieval and processing of donor tissues are upgraded. EBAI is associated with the distribution of eye bank supplies to eye banking community and liaisons with the governments in passing favourable legislations on eye donation. Our ultimate objective is to ensure uniform, adequate eye banking services all over the country with relation to population and geographical spread.
Medical standards is a new concept for the majority of eye banks.
The very reason for our bringing eye banks standards was because of the absence of such standards amongst the eye banks. You cannot expect a sudden response. We have circulated the government guidelines to all eyebanks and we are in the process of convincing them of its importance. At present very few eye banks in the country follow medical standards in the strictest sense. It is true that we are not the enforcing authority.