Lions Corneal Donation Service Director, Dr Graeme Pollock, said no other corneal donation facility in Australia offered this kind of service.

“Our ability to store the corneas for longer means better efficiencies in the system which will lead to reduced waiting times for people in need of a corneal transplant,” Dr Pollock said

“It will also minimise the emotional and psychological toll of cancelled operations and decrease the cost to the health system of unscheduled operations and out of hours surgery.”

Dr Pollock said the old storage system had posed problems because the availability of corneas varied from week to week.

Lions Corneal Donation Service Chairman David Welsh, Governor John Landy and Centre for Eye Research Australia’s Professor Hugh Taylor officially open the new facility.

“In some weeks we would have more corneas than scheduled transplants and we would end up calling people for transplants and opening up the operating theatres.”

“Then the next week we would have no corneas and we would have to cancel operations and the theatres would be empty.”

“With this new system we will be able to better prepare for transplant operations.”

Around 150 corneal transplants are performed at The Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital annually, more than half the total in Victoria each year, making it the busiest transplant hospital in Australasia.

Corneal recipient Dorothy O’Kane examines a cornea being stored at the renovated facility

Corneal recipient Dorothy O’Kane, 61, welcomed the news of the system upgrade after initially missing an opportunity for a transplant because she was interstate when a cornea became available.

Mrs O’Kane, who underwent a transplant last year, said the improvement in her sight was remarkable. “I can even see the freckles on my grandson’s nose.”

The storage system, part of a $240,000 refurbishment of the Lions Corneal Donation Service, was generously funded by the Lions Community Clubs and officially launched by His Excellency, Governor John Landy AC.