The Queensland Tissue Bank supplies the most eye tissue for transplant in all of Australia.
QTB has an impressive array of statistics to celebrate as part of the Organ and Tissue Authority’s Eye & Tissue Spotlight, 7-11 September:
- Over 600 eye tissue donors each year, the highest number in the country
- Over 1,000 patients a year receive eye tissue for vision-saving transplants
- Over 45 people work at QTB based at Coopers Plains and administered by PA Hospital
- Eye and tissue donation in Queensland grew 9% last year
Originally, the Queensland Eye Bank (QEB) commenced in 1988 and by 1992 it was the best performing in the country receiving an official opening ceremony before it’s move in 1994 to the offices in the basement of the PAH Spinal Injuries Unit building. It remained there until it became Queensland Tissue Bank (QTB) at Coopers Plains in 2021.
Queensland donors and the work of QTB support more than 30 per cent of all corneal transplants in Australia. The QTB also provides occasional supply of cornea to New Zealand, New Caledonia, Noumea, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
Patients can be booked for elective surgery two weeks in advance, with tissue also available for emergency cases.
Anyone who needs a corneal transplant in Queensland, will receive one.