Vision is the biggest gift one can give to anyone. It allows the recipient to see the world. In 1985, then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi celebrated his birthday by donating his eyes and declared that August 25 to September 8 be observed as " Eye donation Fortnight" every year.
Keeping the trend alive, the Government Medical College (GMC) and Hospital (GMCH) is holding various awareness programmes to mark the 25th annual eye donation fortnight.
Dr AH Madan, head of the ophthalmology department of GMCH, told TOI that people are still not aware of the importance of eye donation. Annually, India requires one lakh eyes but only one tenth of that are available. Some 200-300 people require corneal transplants in GMCH itself. "But we never get even get a quarter of this. We have a huge wait list. We seek corneas from Madhav Netra Pedhi in city or LV Prasad Eye Hospital, Hyderabad. During this fortnight, we aim to get at least 5000 donors through our drive," he said.
A resident doctor says "Apart from the efforts taken during the fortnight, we make efforts to educate patients in the clinic about the importance of donations throughout the year. We ask them to fill up eye donation forms. We even keep track of all eligible patients for donation and call them up with donation requests. All year round we conduct mega eye donation camps, school surveys, and awareness programmes, diabetic and keratoplasty screenings and conduct national eye programmes at GMCH."
Keeping the trend alive, the Government Medical College (GMC) and Hospital (GMCH) is holding various awareness programmes to mark the 25th annual eye donation fortnight.
Dr AH Madan, head of the ophthalmology department of GMCH, told TOI that people are still not aware of the importance of eye donation. Annually, India requires one lakh eyes but only one tenth of that are available. Some 200-300 people require corneal transplants in GMCH itself. "But we never get even get a quarter of this. We have a huge wait list. We seek corneas from Madhav Netra Pedhi in city or LV Prasad Eye Hospital, Hyderabad. During this fortnight, we aim to get at least 5000 donors through our drive," he said.
A resident doctor says "Apart from the efforts taken during the fortnight, we make efforts to educate patients in the clinic about the importance of donations throughout the year. We ask them to fill up eye donation forms. We even keep track of all eligible patients for donation and call them up with donation requests. All year round we conduct mega eye donation camps, school surveys, and awareness programmes, diabetic and keratoplasty screenings and conduct national eye programmes at GMCH."
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