It has been 37 years since the central government launched the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) to reduce the number of visually impaired persons in the country. As another eye donation awareness fortnight concluded on Sunday in Madurai, the target of NPCB is yet to be attained. Although Tamil Nadu, among the states and Madurai, among districts in the state, are performing fairly in eradicating blindness, ophthalmologists feel that the number of cornea donors is not enough to meet the demand. 

At present, more than 100 visually impaired patients are awaiting for a miracle to happen in Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai, (GRH) alone. Around 100 people would be waiting for corneal transplantation at any given point of time in GRH. Awareness on eye donation is yet to gain momentum among the people in Madurai, said Dr P Thiyagarajan, chief of ophthalmology department of Madurai Medical College and GRH. 

"We have been targeting at least 10 pairs of eyes every month in GRH. Unfortunately, we hardly get five pairs. Although, we have been trying our best to achieve the target, the lack of awareness among the people hampers the efforts," he said. 

Figures on eye donation in Madurai in the last couple of years are not encouraging. The total number of corneas collected from Madurai and its four neighbouring districts (Virudhunagar, Theni and Sivaganga) in 2011 and 2012 was only 2,918 compared to the total of 4,326 corneas collected in 2009 and 2010. In the current year 1,075 corneas have been collected so far. 

Dr M Srinivasan, director of Rotary Aravind Eye Bank in Madurai, said, "We have been intensively trying to collect eyes from the deceased patients in government hospitals by appointing professional counsellors. But, the response from the relatives of the deceased persons is poor. They could collect healthy corneas from only one out of 10 deceased and that too after intensive counselling. The relatives of the rest of the cases would not allow us." 

Aravind Eye Bank is the authorised centre for cornea collection in the region. 

Around one lakh corneas are required across the country at present. But only 40,000 are available every year. A few lakh die in road accidents in India annually, with majority of them being youth. The total requirement of corneas could be met if they are harvested from some of the accident victims, said Dr Srinivasan, the former president of Eye Bank Association of India. 

Dr N Mohan, dean of Madurai Medical College and GRH, said eye donation is a simple process. Only the consent of the close relatives of the deceased person is required. The cornea harvest would hardly take 15 minutes and it would not show any sign that eyes have been removed, he said.

Source: Times of India