Vietnam will open a U.S. Orbis-financed $500,000 eye bank at the Hanoi-based Central Eye Hospital Mar. 25, the first of its kind in the country so far. The bank is expected to supply 200 corneas a year, the hospital said, adding it has conducted cornea transplants since 1954, but it has to depend on cornea supplies from foreign eye banks. The hospital received 138 corneas from international organizations and domestic donors in 2009, up from 51 in 2008 and 9 in 2007, Do Nhu Hon, its director said. Currently, around 300,000 Vietnamese need cornea transplants, reported the hospital.
