Sri Lanka, an island country located in the Indian Ocean, is called "tears on the Indian Ocean" because of its water drop like terrain and 30 years of painful civil war. In recent days, the news of explosion in Sri Lanka has aroused a lot of people's attention. In fact, Sri Lanka is known as the eye of the world. Do you know why?
In 2009, the civil war ended and Sri Lanka embarked on the road of restoration and reconstruction.
However, the 10-year peace that we finally got was broken by explosions. Yesterday (April 21), there were eight bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, including the capital, Colombo. 290 people were killed and about 500 injured.
Xinhua commented that it was a dark day in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankans are in tears, but for more than 50 years, they have been holding the belief that people will live even if they die. By donating corneas for free, they have brought light to many people all over the world.
Although Sri Lanka has a population of only 21 million, it is the world's largest donor of corneas. Since the 1960s, Sri Lanka has donated more than 70000 corneas to other countries. Therefore, Sri Lanka is also known as the 'eye of the world'.
Eyes of the world: 1.3 million donors
In the 7th District of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, a golden statue of Dr. Hudson & middot; Silva, the father of Sri Lanka's cornea, is hidden in the downtown. Behind the statue is the Sri Lanka international eye bank building he founded.
The story of Sri Lankan corneal donation begins with Dr. Hudson & middot; Silva.
Xinhua news agency, BBC and other media previously reported that in 1958, Silva, who was a doctor of medicine at that time, witnessed many patients with eye diseases who were blind due to lack of cornea. So, together with his wife and mother, he wrote the famous article "dead eyes are still alive" with deep sorrow, calling on Sri Lankans to bring light to the blind eyes.
The next year, Silva received his first cornea donation. He keeps his cornea in his refrigerator.
In 1960, my mother died. Silva donated his mother's cornea to a poor farmer, winning the hearts of Sri Lankans with practical actions.
In 1961, Silva also established the Sri Lanka eye donation society. At present, there are international eye bank, human tissue bank, Hudson & middot; Silva Eye Hospital, and contact lens laboratory under the eye donation Association.
In the first year or two, Hudson Silva was often hostile. However, Sri Lankans' religious beliefs helped the donation campaign: the concept of 'giving' enabled corneal donation to be promoted rapidly.
People are so enthusiastic about donating that they receive more corneas than they need in China. So Silva started sending these corneas to other countries. In 1964, he put some eye organs in a thermos filled with ice and flew to Singapore in person.
In October 1999, Dr. Hudson & middot; Silva died, but his career continued. More and more Sri Lankans have also expressed their willingness to donate free of charge, from a few to dozens to hundreds every month, and finally developed into today's national good deeds.
In this island country of only 20 million people, more than 1.3 million people have registered with the Sri Lanka eye donation Association, promising to contribute their corneas after their death. Every president of Sri Lanka has donated corneas.
According to the global Press Journal, in the 55 years from 1961 to 2016, Sri Lanka eye donation association has provided 47850 corneas for Sri Lankans and 73085 corneas for 57 countries and regions around the world.
Sri Lanka's eyes and China
According to an article published by the health times in November last year, keratopathy is the second most common blindness in China after cataract. As a result, about 4 million to 5 million people are disabled or blind. Fortunately, 75% of the patients can see the light again through corneal transplantation. Unfortunately, among the 4 million people, less than 10000 can perform corneal transplantation every year, and 99.75% of the patients are still in the same boat.
Among the recipient countries of cornea, China is one of the most cooperative countries with Sri Lanka.
As early as February 2007, when Sri Lankan President rajapakshav arrived in Beijing, he presented two corneas, a precious national gift to the Chinese people. In the following ten years, many Chinese patients with eye diseases got help from Sri Lanka and saw the light again.
In 2016, qilu.com reported the whole process of cornea transplantation from Sri Lanka to the eyes of Chinese patients.
Liu Jun, a 26 year old boy from Jining, has eye disease due to congenital granular corneal dystrophy. The only way to do this is to have a corneal transplant. If you want to do corneal transplantation, the biggest problem is to wait for the right corneal matching.
On December 11, 2016, five corneas were sent from Sri Lanka, spanning thousands of miles, and were transported to Beijing at 10 pm on December 12. After quarantine procedures, 5 corneas were sent from Beijing to Jinan at 6:05 p.m. on the 15th.
At 8 in the evening, a man holding a white foam box appeared at the A2 exit of Ji'nan west station. White foam boxes are particularly conspicuous in the crowd. "Here comes the cornea." the reporter and the staff of the hospital immediately welcomed it. There was no time to speak more. Everyone got on the bus immediately and drove to the hospital.
At this time, Liu Jun has entered the operating room.
At 8:32 p.m., five corneas from Sri Lanka were successfully delivered to the operating room. Wen Ying, chief physician of the Department of keratology, affiliated ophthalmic hospital of Shandong University of traditional Chinese medicine, carefully examined five corneas. The five corneas were from three Sri Lankan friends. After the doctor confirmed the information for many times, the operation officially began. The operation was also webcast.
At 8:57 PM, after more than an hour of operation, Liu Jun was pushed out of the operating room by the nurse. "The operation is very smooth, because the operation requires high precision, so the operation time will be longer. 'doctor Wen Ying told reporters. After three to five days of observation, the cornea heals normally and they can recover their vision.
At present, Sri Lanka international eye bank has cooperated with ophthalmic hospitals and related institutions in many cities of China.
In 2013, Sri Lanka international eye bank signed an agreement with a hospital in Sichuan, China, to donate at least 500 corneas to Sichuan every year in the next decade. On February 11, 2015, 10 corneas from Sri Lanka international eye bank, presented by the mayor of Colombo, arrived in Chengdu from Colombo on Air China's first flight, marking the opening of Sri Lanka China's first international fast track for corneal donation.
In October 2016, Xiamen Eye Center affiliated to Xiamen University signed a contract with Sri Lanka eye donation association to build an international joint eye bank.
At the end of 2016, the corneal donation cooperation mechanism between Shandong and Sri Lanka was launched. Since 2017, Sri Lanka has donated about 500 to 600 corneas to Shandong every year.
There are numerous such cooperation cases in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Suzhou, Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Harbin, Daqing, Nanning, Changsha, Yichang, Hefei, Ordos, Shenyang and Haikou;
In 2018, a TV series focusing on corneal donation was launched, which is also the first cooperation between China and Sri Lanka in film and television culture.
Today, Sri Lankans, who have brought light to the world, are in the dark. By the time of publication, the death toll in the Sri Lankan bombing has risen to 359. The international community should strengthen cooperation to prevent the tragedy from recurring and hope that the light will return to Sri Lanka.