UAE’S first eye and tissue bank to be established in Abu Dhabi

The first-ever eye and tissue bank of the UAE will be established in Abu Dhabi after the the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DOH) and Us-based Eversight signed an agreement to this effect recently.

The partnership between the two entities will "witness the creation, development and operation of a comprehensive and seamless eye transplantation framework in the UAE", a joint statement said.

Eversight, a leading global nonprofit eye bank institutions, will assist the the DOH in setting up the Eye and Tissue Bank (Abu Dhabi) across three phases: design, implementation and management.

In its early stages, both entities will focus on implementing the necessary arrangements for the institution to serve as an importer for corneas and other eye-related tissues into the region, in addition to integrating the eye and tissue banking programme into the UAE'S National Programme for Organ Donation and Transplantation.

The Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU) between DOH and Eversight was signed by Dr Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, undersecretary of DOH, and Carrie Wolverton, global development director, Eversight. Attending the signing was Abdulla bin Mohamed Al Hamed, chairman of DOH.

Dr Al Kaabi said: “Through this partnership, we aim to facilitate quick and seamless operations for all patients in need of eye-tissue transplantation in the UAE. We encourage community members to register their consent to donate organs and tissues post-mortem.