Kathmandu, October 28:

The Nepal Eye Hospital (NEH), Nepal’s first eye hospital, is planning to resume corneal transplant service soon after two eye specialists get training in India.

The service was disrupted after two experts of the NEH went abroad in 2003 in search of a better career.

Now the hospital is sending an ophthalmologist each from the paediatric and cornea departments for training with a view to resume the service.

Dr Aditya Prasad Risal, Ophthalmologist Chief Executive of NEH, said: “We are all set to send our eye specialists to India for a six-month training.”

He said that the paper work for sending the doctors for the training has already been started to ensure proper training for the Nepali doctors.

“Although our hospital is a national referral centre, we have to send our patients to other hospitals for corneal transplant service because we do not have the required manpower,” Dr Risal said, adding that some 350 patients visit the hospital every day.

Meanwhile, the NEH is planning to provide a one-month training on Phecoemulsification, a modern Cataract surgery procedure, to opthalmologists from other Nepali hospitals from this November.