Of all human organ transplants, corneal transplantation is currently the lowest risk and highest success rate. Good quality and sufficient number of corneal endothelial cells are critical to the success of the procedure and long-term survival of the transplanted cornea, and are the most vital indicators of corneal quality.
To enhance corneal processing, preservation techniques and transplant quality control in Taiwan, since 2013, in accordance with Article 10-1 of the Human Organ Transplant Act, two national eye banks have been set up in phases, one in the north and one in the south, by drawing on overseas experience and models for the establishment of national eye banks.
For the sake of going international, the name was changed to National Eye Bank of Taiwan (NEBT) in 2016, and one hospital was entrusted to co-ordinate its operations. By setting up a head office and a southern office, the NEBT has been able to make use of its existing complete facilities and professional medical team to train up dedicated technical staff to handle corneal examinations and to revise the Standard Operating Procedures of the National Eye Bank of Taiwan on a yearly basis. In addition, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on July 1, 2016 between the MOHW, NEBT and US health organization SightLife for a 5-year collaboration. In 2022, the Phase 2 MOU will be renewed to continue the international collaboration and to move the quality of our eye bank towards international standards and the goal of becoming an Asian center of excellence in eye banking.
The NEBT is currently working with some 38 cornea harvesting and transplantation hospitals across the country in an inter-hospital partnership to harvest corneas,and to enhance the overall quality of corneal transplants through the internationally accredited quality management and specialized procedures for corneal examination and preservation.
In June 2015, a dust explosion occurred at the Formosa Fun Coast water park in New Taipei City. Of the 499 burn victims, 248 suffered burns that covered more than 40% of their bodies, including 24 people with burns to more than 80% of their bodies. To reduce infection and fluid loss in patients, the MOHW, in view of the shortage of skin in the nation at that time, urgently imported large quantities of cadaveric skin from overseas for use by patients, which was extremely time-consuming for clinical and rescue purposes.
To forestall similar incidents in the future, the health ministry tasked the Center in 2018 with founding the National Skin Bank of Taiwan (NSBT) to handle the recruitment, donation, harvesting, examination and processing, and preservation of cadaveric skin, and to commission professional medical facilities to conduct skin examination and processing, as well as to revise the Standard Operating Procedures of the National Skin Bank of Taiwan. From 2020 onwards, the skin bank has created a collaborative mechanism with hospitals by signing "Letters of Intent" with 11 medical institutions across the nation to expedite inter-hospital collaboration and, where necessary, to allow the competent authorities to deploy the services to those in need in a timely manner.
To ensure that the quality of the skin bank is in line with international standards, the NSBT received notification from the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) in 2022 to conduct an on-site assessment in Taiwan to assist the skin bank in revising its inspection, processing and preservation practices and adjusting its standard operating procedures, with a view to establishing international standards in skin inspection, processing and preservation.
