The Eye Bank in Kathmandu, Nepal is an eye donation program started in 1995 that strives to return sight to the blind.
It helps patients with eye injuries and infections to retain their vision through cornea transplant surgery.
Pashupatinath Temple, a holy Hindu shrine in Kathmandu, is a place where Hindus bring their loved ones after they pass away for a cremation ceremony.
Deviating from traditional Hindu cremation ritual, if family and friends agree to donate the corneas of the deceased, the donor's body is carried to their facility located in the crematorium at Pashupatinath to extract the corneas from the corpse.
To persuade a family who is mourning to donate the eyes of their loved one who just passed away is among the most challenging tasks the Eye Bank team encounters in their work.
Religion and local culture has often influenced the decision to donate as the procedure performed during an eye donation conflicts with some local beliefs.
However, the number of donors and successful surgeries has risen significantly and benefited many since the inception of the Eye Bank.
