Sri Lanka Donates Human Eye Corneas to Pakistan Army

Sri Lanka which has a rich history of eye donations, resumed the donation of human eye corneas to Pakistan Army marking a new chapter in the longstanding relationship between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. This signifies the restart of a noble humanitarian project, centered on people-to-people contacts between two brotherly nations that have stood by each other through challenging times.

The first consignment of five eye corneas officially handed over by the High Commissioner H.E Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne and Defense Advisor Brigadier Kaminda Silva to Major General Iftikar Ahmed Satti, Acting Surgeon General and DGMS at the state-of-the -art Pakistan Military Eye Hospital, AFIO (Armed Forces Institute of Ophthalmology) at Rawalpindi in a simple ceremony on 21 June 2024. Brigadier ( Dr) Waqar Muzaffar, the Commandant & Dean and the staff of AFIO also were present at the event.

These corneas will be implanted to gallant Pakistan Army members who lost/ damaged their eye corneas during their fighting against terror and they will be gifted the eye sight to see the world again through Sri Lankan eyes.

As of now Sri Lanka has donated more than 88,000 eye corneas worldwide through the Eye Donation Society of  Sri Lanka, established in 1964 by the late Deshamannya Dr. Hudson Silva. Of these, over 36,000 corneas have been donated to Pakistan.

A noteworthy contribution made by Mr. Idris Admani, President of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Friendship Association and Mr Yasin Joya, the Honarary Consul Lahore to make this project a success.