Publications by authors named "Rakhi Nathawat"

Purpose: The expansion of the Hospital Corneal Retrieval Programme (HCRP) and the role of Eye Donation Counsellors (EDCs) have shown promising results in increasing donor cornea availability. To further enhance EDC competency and improve cornea availability for transplantation, the study proposes the Eye Donation Counsellor Skill Evaluation Tool (EDC-SET). Key words: Competency assessment, corneal blindness, Eye Donation Counsellors (EDCs), eye health, Hospital Corneal Retrieval Programme (HCRP), skill evaluation.

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This case series highlights the challenges in eye banking and the importance of a quality assurance program. Three cases triggered corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs) to improve the processes. Case 1 emphasized training to prevent retrieval failures.

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In India, the most densely populated state is Uttar Pradesh in the Northern region. This state has a huge base of corneal blind population due to cornea infections, ocular trauma, and (chemical) burns.Successful cornea transplantation using human post-mortem donated cornea is a treatment modality.

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Purpose: In India, COVID-19 infected more than 10 million and caused more than 148,000 fatalities during 2020. Due to "lockdown" eye banks were shuttered in March, 2020 and reopened for operations in the month of May, 2020. This study assesses the immediate impact of the pandemic on eye banking and cornea transplantation in India.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it the huge burden of mortality and morbidity across the world and the added effects of the mandatory lockdown measures to try and control the spread. A number of aspects of healthcare including eye donation and eye collection require adequate safety precautions in place to keep both the involved healthcare workers and patients safe. This paper highlights the consensus-based guidelines by an expert panel on how to restart eye banking and eye collection services and carry out emergency corneal surgeries during this COVID-19 time.

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