Eye donation pledges in Mizoram climb to 9,345 as 33 more students sign up

Awareness driving the rise in pledges

Dr Lalthlengliani linked the steady climb in pledges to growing public awareness about how corneal donation works and the difference it can make for people living with corneal blindness. A donated cornea, once retrieved from someone who has passed away, can be transplanted into a patient to help restore their sight, provided the procedure happens within a limited window of time after death.

How Mizoram's eye bank has grown

Mizoram set up its eye bank on July 31, 2008, and it took just over a year for the facility to carry out its first successful corneal transplant, on September 25, 2009. Since then, 632 people in the state have gone on to actually donate their eyes after death, while the recipient side of the programme currently has 400 people registered and waiting for a matching cornea. In the ongoing financial year alone, the eye bank has managed to retrieve 42 corneas as of July, and doctors have already performed 23 corneal transplant procedures in that period.

Donor families recognised for their contribution

Separately, the health department recently honoured 67 families whose relatives had donated their eyes in 2025-26, presenting them with certificates of appreciation for their contribution to the programme. Officials describe corneal donation as a time-sensitive process, since the cornea has to be retrieved from a deceased donor and used quickly to give an eligible patient with corneal blindness a real chance at regaining their vision.