People urged to join campaign for eye donations

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, AUG. 27. Expressing concern at the widening gap between the demand for cornea required for transplantation and the supply of donor tissue, the Governor, Dr. C.Rangarajan, called upon people to come forward to donate their eyes and join in a mass campaign to create awareness on the issue.

He was speaking at a function organised at the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital here on Monday, as part of the `National Eye Donation Fortnight'. Supporting his contention with figures, Dr. Rangarajan said that in 1998, only 17,000 eyes were donated in the country, against the demand of 2.5 million people who are awaiting corneal transplant to restore their vision.

Unfortunately, corneal blindness is found mainly among children, and therefore the human and economic ramifications of the tragedy of vision loss is so much more. It is in this context that strong public awareness programmes are a must to increase the number of eyes that are donated.

The Governor underlined the need to create proper infrastructure for eye donations and a cadre of "grief counsellors" who would interact with the family members of the bereaved to get their consent for removing the cornea of the deceased.

The Governor honoured those who had taken an initiative in donating the eyes of their family members. The hospital had also organised competitions for schoolchildren to popularise eye donation. Shashikala won the first prize in painting and best slogan competitions, while L. Pawan Kumar of the Devnar School for Blind won first prize in essay writing. The prizes were given away by Mrs. Haripriya Rangarajan.

Dr. P.Siva Reddy, former superintendent, Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, presided over the meeting, Dr. A.Saibaba Goud, superintendent, Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, welcomed the dignitaries and guests and Dr. P.Venkateswara Rao spoke about corneal blindness.

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Section  : Southern States
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