Restoring Sight at Home: Oman Surpasses 300 Corneal Transplants Since 2023
With ultra-thin partial grafts now performed locally and a national eye bank on the horizon, Omani hospitals have ended the need for patients to travel abroad for corneal surgery.
For years, losing the clarity of a cornea in Oman meant preparing for a long journey overseas. Before the national transplant program resumed in 2023, around 80 Omani patients traveled abroad every year to receive donor tissue—leaving work, schools, and extended families behind for weeks of surgery and post-operative follow-up. By the end of October 2026, hospitals across the Sultanate had completed more than 300 corneal transplants at home, reducing the number of patients referred abroad for the procedure over the past three years to zero.
Ultra-Thin Precision at Al Nahdha Hospital
At Al Nahdha Hospital in Muscat, the shift is measured in microns. According to Dr. Haitham bin Hilal Al Mahrouqi, Consultant of Corneal Transplants, Cataract, and Refractive Surgery at Al Nahdha Hospital, the revived program was designed to build a self-sustaining national network connecting Omani hospitals with international eye banks and the Omani Center for Organ and Human Tissue Donation and Transplantation.
Beyond traditional full-thickness corneal replacements, Omani ophthalmic surgeons have localized three specialized types of partial lamellar transplants. In the most delicate of these procedures, surgeons replace only the affected inner layer of the cornea using a graft no thicker than 20 microns—roughly a fraction of the width of a human hair. Preserving the patient’s healthy corneal layers speeds recovery, lowers the risk of graft rejection, and restores functional vision much faster than older surgical methods.
Building a National Corneal Bank
The next step in the program’s growth is the creation of a dedicated national corneal bank within Oman. Working alongside the Omani Center for Organ and Human Tissue Donation and Transplantation, the Ministry of Health is putting the technical equipment and preservation protocols in place to collect, store, and prepare corneas donated after death in accordance with accredited medical standards.
Dr. Al Mahrouqi notes that while equipment and surgical skill are already in place, the most important task ahead is building community awareness around posthumous tissue donation. Establishing a local corneal bank—expected to operate within the upcoming National Center for Ophthalmology—will link public and private hospitals across Oman’s governorates into a single specialized care network, ensuring that patients waiting for sight-restoring surgery can receive treatment close to home.
