Eye bank in Olten is closed due to lack of money

The Keradonum Foundation closed its bank for eye corneas in OIten at the end of 2023 due to a lack of money. The difference between actual costs and market prices could no longer be covered with donations. As a result, the situation regarding corneal transplantation in Switzerland is worsening.

The private foundation operated its cornea bank for about 15 years. There, experts removed, prepared and preserved the deceased’s corneas. This is over, Franz Immer, the director of Swisstransplant, confirmed a message from Radio SRF on Monday.

According to information from Keradonum, quoted by Radio SRF, the removal and processing of a cornea cost at least 6,000 francs. Meanwhile, the transplant clinics each paid the market price of 2,800 francs. The foundation covered the difference with donations. Following a drop in donations during the Covid-19 pandemic, this was no longer possible.

Swisstransplant, the Swiss Foundation for Organ Donation and Transplantation, regrets the closure. At the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency, director Immer explained that his organization was trying to resume corneal removal in hospitals contracted by Keradonum as quickly as possible.

According to Immer’s information, by 2023 these hospitals had removed 174 ophthalmic corneas for Keradonum, of which 87 were transplanted. With the cessation of Keradonum’s activities, a quarter of domestic corneal donations will no longer be made.

As a result, more corneas will have to be imported until the former Keradonum contract hospitals resume collection. As Immer has announced, a cost-covering withdrawal should be discussed in the medium term so that Switzerland can meet its own needs. The Council of Europe recommends that countries meet their own needs.

According to figures from the Federal Office for Public Health (BAG), 708 eye corneas, so-called corneas, were removed in Switzerland in 2022. However, 40 to 45 percent of removed corneas cannot be transplanted because they have defects such as too few endothelial cells or contamination. This means that approximately 400 corneas taken domestically were transplanted.

In 2022, Swiss clinics performed a total of 925 corneal transplants. At the same time, 534 corneas were imported into Switzerland.

After the closure in Olten, there are still five eye banks in Switzerland: in the university hospitals of Bern, Zurich and Geneva, in the Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne and in the Jules-Gonin Eye Hospital in Lausanne.

The cornea is the crystal clear, dome-shaped and curved front part of the outer skin of the eye that is moistened with tears. It forms the front end of the eyeball and provides most of the refraction of light. (saw/sda)