There is no dearth of Eye Donors. We need to create more awareness: Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister

Nitin Gadkari

National Eye Donation Pledge Contest achieves a record number of 3.08 lakh Eye Pledges from across India in just 14 days from Sept 21 to 4th October.

This was disclosed in the Virtual Valedictory Function of National Contest on Eye Donation Pledge held on the eve of World Sight Day Today. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was the Chief Guest.

Lucknow District stood first in India in mobilising 35, 717 Eye Pledges, Jabalpur District stood second with 30,641 Eyes Pledged.

Speaking on the occasion, Nitin Gadkari said, there is no dearth of Eye Donors. We need to create more awareness. You come and meet us. We will bring MSME, Social Justice and Tribal Welfare Ministries together to spread the reach of Eye Banks in India. If Sri Lanka achieves a remarkable status of exporting Corneas to 27 countries, why can’t India achieve this? Why can’t we adopt their model? he told Saksham, the organisers.

Due to Corona, the eye donations has come down from 60,000 per annum to just 10% I.e 6,500. In this light of background a massive awareness and promotional drive was launched, which resulted in collecting little over three lakh pledges informed Dr Santosh of Saksham.

A contest towards this effect was organised across India. And the NGOs who procured maximum pledges were declared. Where Lucknow and Jabalpur Districts stood in first two positions.

It was an initiative of CAMBA. CAMBA is a project of SAKSHAM.

CAMBA stands for Cornea Andhatv Mukta Bharat Abhiyan (in Hindi). It means Corneal Blindness Free Bharat Movement.

“Cornea Andhatv Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (CAMBA)” is a pan India movement of Saksham to bring down the incidence of Corneal Blindness in India and to motivate millions of Indians to pledge their eyes for this noble cause. Samadrishti, Kshamata Vikas Evam Anusandhan Mandal (SAKSHAM) is a charitable national organization with a major presence in Hyderabad.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Prashanth Garg from LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad said, we need two lakh corneas every year on an assumption that 50% of them are not fit for transplantation. We have more than 400 Eye Banks in India. Still, we collect 60,000 corneas annually and 50% of them are not fit for corneal transplantation. Eye Banks have to be more efficient. Sri Lanka exports Corneas to 27 countries. Their PM and their Buddhism religious gurus promote eye donation. In 2018, Sri Lanka has exported 48,000 corneas to 27 countries, he said.

There are 11 lakh blind in the country and their number is on the rise felt many experts, corneal surgeons and eye banks experts.

Three reasons why the Eye Donation Movement is very vital at this juncture:

1. Due to COVID-19, eye donation has dropped to almost 10% of what was being done previously. Another very big issue being faced is lack of storage for longer times. And to store for 10-12 days, the cost has doubled. The biggest problem has been transport and logistics.

2. So, increase in awareness is most essential during COVID-19 do that there is a surge in eye donation activity after the epidemic plateaus. So all the backlog has to be covered, 60,000 eye donation could decrease to 10,000 this year. And we need to enhance the capacity to clear the extra backlog.

3. The biggest reason to start the movement is to increase awareness. Every year around 80 lakh people die but only 30,000 people donate which is less than 1%. The main reason is to build this awareness and also to make them understand the need.