Taliban Ban Corneal Transplants in Afghanistan, Leaving Hundreds at Risk of Permanent Blindness

• Taliban authorities have reportedly banned corneal transplant surgeries in Afghanistan, citing Islamic teachings as the reason for the restriction.
• Hospitals in Kabul and Jalalabad have suspended sight-restoring procedures, leaving hundreds of patients awaiting treatment.
• Pakistani-American medical charity APPNA has urged the Taliban to reverse the decision and allow free corneal transplant programmes to resume.

The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have reportedly prohibited corneal transplant surgeries, citing religious grounds, a decision that has disrupted essential eye treatment and left hundreds of patients facing the possibility of permanent vision loss.

According to a report by The Telegraph, doctors at hospitals in Kabul and Jalalabad have been verbally instructed to stop performing corneal transplants after Taliban officials declared the procedures impermissible under their interpretation of Islamic teachings.

The restriction has affected patients suffering from serious eye injuries caused by explosions, accidents and other traumatic incidents, many of whom had been waiting for surgery that could potentially restore their eyesight.

Medical professionals have expressed concern that the decision could prevent hundreds of Afghans from receiving sight-restoring treatment every year, particularly in a country already struggling with limited healthcare infrastructure and a shortage of specialist doctors.

The reported ban comes just months after an international medical charity helped train Afghan surgeons to perform corneal transplants locally, creating new treatment opportunities for patients who previously had limited access to such procedures.

At Noor Eye Hospital in Kabul, doctors had successfully performed 90 corneal transplant operations in recent months before the programme was suspended following the Taliban’s instructions.

Dr Noor Zaman Hashim, a specialist associated with the hospital, said the medical team had been treating patients suffering from severe eye damage, including young people injured in explosions, industrial accidents and welding-related incidents.

He explained that Afghanistan’s healthcare system had already suffered extensive damage from decades of conflict, leaving the country with insufficient ophthalmologists and limited access to donated corneas.

According to Dr Hashim, the hospital had developed a growing waiting list of patients requiring transplant surgery, but the Taliban’s directive forced doctors to discontinue the procedures.

He said the instructions were communicated verbally rather than through a formal written order, leaving hospital staff unable to continue treatment.

Dr Hashim also expressed concern about the consequences of challenging the authorities, saying medical professionals feared severe punishment if they disregarded the instructions.

The suspension has also affected a humanitarian initiative supported by the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA), a medical charitable organisation based in Illinois, United States.

APPNA has been supplying donated corneas free of charge for transplant procedures in Pakistan since 2017, helping patients with damaged corneas regain their eyesight.

The organisation subsequently expanded its humanitarian efforts to Afghanistan, supporting the training of local doctors in Kabul and Jalalabad so that corneal transplant surgeries could be performed within the country.

The programme was particularly important for patients unable to afford specialised medical treatment abroad or access suitable transplant facilities locally.

However, the Taliban’s reported prohibition has interrupted these efforts, despite the availability of trained medical personnel and patients already registered for surgery.

Among those affected is Salamat Khan, a sugarcane juice vendor in Kabul who lost his eyesight following a gas cylinder explosion in 2023.

Khan learned about the free corneal transplant programme from another patient who had benefited from the treatment and subsequently approached the hospital for medical assistance.

Doctors scheduled his operation for September, raising hopes that he might recover his vision after years of difficulty.

However, Khan said he was informed that the transplant programme had been suspended in August, leaving him without access to the surgery he had been expecting.

Another affected patient is 40-year-old Khadija Begum, who suffered an eye injury during an explosion in Jalalabad.

She registered for treatment at Jalalabad Eye Hospital two months before speaking to The Telegraph, hoping that a corneal transplant could help restore her damaged vision.

According to Begum, hospital officials informed her the following month that the Taliban had ordered the closure of the transplant programme because the procedures were considered contrary to Islamic teachings.

The sudden suspension left her uncertain about whether she would be able to receive the treatment she needed.

Both patients’ names have been changed to protect their identities.

The Pakistani-American medical charity APPNA has strongly appealed to the Taliban authorities to reconsider the restriction and permit hospitals to resume corneal transplantation services.

In its statement, the organisation highlighted Afghanistan’s urgent need for specialised medical care after decades of war and instability, stressing that patients should not be deprived of procedures capable of restoring their eyesight.

APPNA urged the Taliban to allow corneal transplants to continue, pointing to the country’s already weakened healthcare system and the significant number of people requiring treatment for serious eye injuries.

Afghanistan has faced considerable challenges in providing specialised medical services, including shortages of trained healthcare professionals, modern equipment and donated medical materials.

Doctors say corneal transplantation is particularly difficult to access because the country lacks sufficient locally available donor corneas and trained ophthalmologists capable of performing complex eye surgeries.

The recent training initiative had begun addressing some of these challenges by enabling Afghan doctors to conduct procedures in their own hospitals rather than relying entirely on treatment outside the country.

The reported restriction follows a series of measures introduced by the Taliban since their return to power in August 2021, which have raised international concerns about access to healthcare, education and other essential services.

With corneal transplant operations suspended in Kabul and Jalalabad, patients already on hospital waiting lists remain unable to proceed with scheduled surgeries, while doctors face uncertainty over when they may be permitted to restart the programme.