EYE DONATION
Of these atleast 3 million can be benefited by corneal transplantation. Thus, to effectively meet the evergrowing demand, we need around 150,000 corneal transplants to be performed every year. However, the current supply is only 22000 corneas per year. Thenumber of blinds in the country could be brought down to zero in five years, if eyes from one lakh dead persons could be harvested per year, according to an Indianophthalmologist ofrepute. “It is estimated that there are 4.5 crore blinds in India. This is one-third of the total global blind population. If we could harvest the eyes of all dead persons, corneal blindness could beeradicated from India once and for ever,” the ophthalmologist Dr Ashley Thomas Jacob told DNA.
He said awareness campaigns held so far are yet to bear fruits as the message has not reached the people. “Every year, we record 80 lakh deaths in India. This means 1.6 crore eyes are buried every year. We should be able to harvest at least five per cent of these eyes to give sight to the living blind,” said Dr Jacob. Dr Jacob, 39, a MS from Kasturba Medical College Manipal with trainingfrom the renowned Moorfields Eye Hospital, London is a Sir Ratan Tata Fellow in advanced cataract microsurgery at Chennai’s Sankara Nethralaya. He was taken aback by the callous attitude of the people towards eye donation during one of his vacations to his hometown in Kerala.“Even educated people are reluctant when we tell them about the necessity to donate one’s eyes after death. They feel that if they donate their eyes, they will born blind in their next birth,” said Dr Jacob. He disclosed that though many people come forward and sign declarations that after death their eyes should be donated, their relations are reluctant to allow the authorities to harvest the eyes. “We do not have an effectivesystem through which we can reach the dead ones and harvest their corneas,” he said. The dance posted in India Videos is based on a sloka from an ancient Ayurveda book on the importance of eyes. “The sloga selected from Vaidyakeeya Subhashitha Sahityam (authored by Bhaskara Govinda Ghanekara, chief surgeon and professor of Banaras Hindu University) is about the importance of eyes The video posted in India Videos has caught the attention fo more than 26000 persons without any advertisement. The number of people coming forward to donate the eyes are increasing by the hour from all over the world,” said Dr Jacob. Rajashree Warrier, the danseuse herself has set to tunes the slogas. MR Hari, managing director, Invis Multi Media, the operators of India Videos, said this was the first attempt to integrate arts, medicine, cyber space and ancient Indian wisdom for a cause. “We produced the video and posted it in India Videos as part of the Eye Donation Day which falls on September 8. We hope to catch the eye of the web world through this campaign,” said Hari.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur on Thursday 8th September,2011 pledged to donate their eyes. They signed the National Eye Donation Pledge form here to mark the National Eye Donation Day. In a statement issued here, Dr. Singh and Mrs. Kaur said, “We are aware that there are innumerable corneal blind patients in our country for whom the gift of sight will be a priceless one. We hope that people across the country will rise to the occasion and support the National Programme for Control of Blindness and help their fellow brethren.”They lauded the National Eye Bank and the corneal transplantation teams at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences and across the country for their efforts to illuminate the lives to those in need.
There are over 4.5 million visually challenged persons in the country and doctors feel that at least three million can gain their sight through cornea transplant. Eye donation can help restore vision among the corneally-blind. There are more than 400 organisations registered with the Eye Bank Association of India, which is spreading awareness about eye donation and facilitating eye donation. There is an urgent need to create mass awareness regarding eye donation
Prof. John Kurakar
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