With an aim to collect and distribute corneas for transplantation by eye surgeons in Hong Kong, Lions Eye Bank of Hong Kong (formerly known as Hong Kong Eye Bank and Research Foundation), founded in 1962 by the Lions of the Lions Clubs International District 303 – Hong Kong & Macao, China and ophthalmologists of the Hong Kong Ophthalmological Society. As the only eye bank in Hong Kong, it aims at ”Sight Conservation & Help for the Blind” and its duty is to perform corneal transplant surgery, cataract extraction and cure other ophthalmic diseases. The work of the Eye Bank prompted the Hong Kong government to enact the Tissue Act on June 28 1968, permitting the removal of parts of the human body for medical use and transplantation only if the approval of such removal was given by the families of the deceased. In the past half century, the “Low Cost Clinic“, established in Granville Road, Tsimshatsui, was officially opened by the then International President, Fernando Sonral on November 23, 1976. The second eye clinic, “The Hong Kong Eye Bank Laser Photocoagulator Therapy Clinic” equipped with the most modern of ophthalmic apparatus, was set up at the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital on July 22, 1981. The equipment costed about HK$300,000 was funded by the Lions and the Baptist Hospital. And the first eye corneal bank in Hong Kong, Kung Wah Lee Eye Tissue Laboratory opened on April 25, 1992, has also successfully helped many people with eye dise
ases. Since 2000, its eye clinic and donation service have joined the Hospital Authority to provide a wider range of quality services to the public and blind people.