By Caroline Song

The Delhi government has been cracking down on private hospitals’ practices of donating corneas to foreigners. In 2014, the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules proclaimed that Indian patients are to take priority over foreign nationals. Due to concerns that this rule wasn’t being followed, the state government of Delhi introduced a new restriction. Now, in order to be able to transplant corneas into foreign nationals, a hospital must obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from two Delhi institutes: the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Guru Nanak Eye Center. These institutions are responsible for maintaining the waiting list for eye transplants.

According to AIIMS, yearly demand for corneas approaches 100,000, but only 25,000 are transplanted.

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