The Taliban has reportedly halted corneal transplants in Afghanistan after ruling that the procedure violates Islamic teachings. The decision threatens access to sight-restoring surgery for hundreds of patients already facing limited specialist care.

A procedure that could restore sight to people blinded by explosions, workplace accidents and years of conflict has been halted in Afghanistan after the Taliban ruled that corneal transplants violate Islamic teachings, The Telegraph reported.

The ban has disrupted operations in Kabul and Jalalabad, where a charity-backed programme had begun providing donated corneas and training local specialists. Doctors warn that the decision could leave hundreds of patients without access to treatment in a country already struggling with shortages of medical professionals and years of conflict-related damage to its health care system.

A corneal transplant involves replacing damaged or diseased tissue in the eye’s clear front layer with donated tissue to improve or restore vision.

The latest directive adds to the restrictions imposed by the Taliban since returning to power in August 2021, extending their impact beyond women’s rights and education to access to essential health care.

BAN DASHES HOPES OF REGAINING SIGHT

For patients who had spent months hoping to regain their sight, the order has overturned plans for treatment.

Dr Noor Zaman Hashim of Noor Eye Hospital in Kabul said his team had performed 90 corneal transplants in recent months before the programme was suspended. The hospital now faces a growing waiting list, largely made up of young people whose eyesight was damaged by explosions, physical injuries and welding accidents.

“Decades of violence have devastated Afghanistan’s healthcare infrastructure. We neither have sufficient ophthalmologists nor locally available corneas to meet the demand for transplants,” he said, as quoted in the report.

“The Taliban have verbally instructed us to stop the transplants. Nobody has the courage to defy their orders because of the risk of severe punishment,” he said.

Afghanistan’s long history of conflict has left many people with serious injuries, while shortages of specialists and donated tissue make treatment difficult to access. The suspension has further narrowed the options for patients who were depending on the charity-backed initiative.

CHARITY EXPANDED FREE EYE SURGERY TO AFGHANISTAN

The programme was run with support from the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA), a US-based charitable organisation that has supplied free corneas for transplants in Pakistan since 2017.

The organisation expanded its work into Afghanistan earlier this year, allowing more than 150 operations to take place. Three Afghan ophthalmologists had also received training in Peshawar, Pakistan, to carry out the procedures.

The corneas were donated, allowing patients to receive treatment without paying for the tissue. The halt has therefore affected a programme designed specifically to help people who might otherwise struggle to afford specialist eye care.

The suspension has left patients who had already registered for surgery uncertain about when, or whether, they will receive treatment.

A man who sells sugarcane juice in Kabul lost his eyesight in a gas cylinder explosion in 2023. He learnt about the free surgery programme from someone who had benefited from it and approached the hospital in the hope of recovering his vision.

“I heard about the free programme from someone who had benefited from it and visited the hospital. Doctors told me they would operate on me in September, but I was shocked when they informed me that the programme had been stopped in August,” he said, as quoted in the report.

The reported ban on corneal transplants adds to a series of restrictions imposed by the Taliban since they returned to power in August 2021. Many of their measures have targeted women and girls. These measures have compounded the difficulties facing an already fragile health system, which has struggled with shortages of trained personnel, limited resources and the effects of years of conflict.