Singapore Eye Bank

Established in 1991, the Singapore Eye Bank (SEB) stays true to its national remit and mission of ‘Assisting in the Restoration of Sight to Those Blind from Corneal Diseases, through the Procurement of High Quality Corneas for Corneal Transplantation in Singapore’.

The primary objective of the Singapore Eye Bank is to provide safe human corneal tissue of excellent quality to patients requiring corneal transplantation. This is achieved through local corneal donation programmes, and through acquisition of overseas corneal tissue from certified international eye banks. SEB provides families of potential donors with a mechanism to donate their loved one’s eyes and is committed to promote public awareness of corneal donations among all Singaporeans. Sited within SNEC, SEB is staffed and fully equipped for corneal procurement, evaluation, processing, storage and distribution for transplantation. The eye bank adheres to the highest international standards set by the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) and undergoes regular quality assurance reviews.

The SEB is also the epicenter of the Association of Eye Banks of Asia (AEBA), which is headquartered in SNEC. AEBA is a professional organization of eye banks in Asia dedicated to promoting eye donation and improving standards of eye banking in Asia. The Hospital Eye Donation Program (HEDP), which is governed by the Medical Therapy, Education & Research Act, was launched in 1996 in order to increase the rate of local cornea donation. This involves active counseling of the next-of-kin of the deceased and obtaining consent for cornea donation. The first program was implemented in SGH and subsequent programmes were also adopted in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (2002), Changi General Hospital (2010) and National University Hospital (2013).