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An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’ goes the old adage, but in the new milieu if one takes a pledge then we might as well say that an eye for an eye can make the world blindless.
For those without sight, the gift of vision can be the most precious boon; a gift that could transform their world from BLACK to COLOUR. This requires just a decision, a decision to pledge one’s eyes. This decision can light up two people’s lives…. Because it provides vision to two corneally blind persons.
Staggering Statistics
India shoulders the largest burden of global blindness. One out of every three blind people in the world lives in India. An estimated 15 million including two million blind children are visually challenged. According to the National Programme for the Control of Blindness, 20 lakh people lose their sight in our country every year because of corneal disease and injury. But it is to our credit that we are the first country in the world to initiate a dedicated programme for eradicating avoidable blindness. However, the magnitude of the problem is vast and the government resources are meagre.
Blindness in most cases is avoidable that is, either preventable or curable. Seven lakh of India’s population suffering from corneal blindness, mostly children can be cured by corneal transplantation.
Corneal blindness means that cornea, which is the transparent and thin outer layer of eye – becomes clouded due to nutritional deficiency, injury or disease such as trachoma, corneal ulcer, and conjunctivitis, leading to loss of vision. This blindness can be cured in most cases by corneal grafting. The opaque cornea is replaced with a healthy cornea received from the donor. This is called corneal transplantation. It is a myth that the eyeball is transplanted during eye grafting.
Eye Banking
In every age the handicap of blindness has stirred the sympathy of civilized people, but till recently that sympathy generally expressed itself in the giving of alms to the wayside mendicant. But the technique of eye transplantation has paved way for doing more than just sympathizing with the blind. Eye donation means people pledging to donate their eyes after death to be used for corneal grafting for restoring sight to corneal blind people. In India there are more than 80 lakh deaths every year but sadly the corneal donations do not exceed a few thousand.
There is a severe lack of donor eyes in India. Only 4,500 operations are being performed every year, while 30,000 new victims are added each year to the long list of 7 lakh patients already waiting to be cured. Lack of awareness among the general public is one of the reasons for very low number of eye donations. Although there is an annual demand for 75,000 to 1,00,000 corneas only 16,000 corneas are donated in India each year.
Who Can Donate Eyes?
Eye donors can belong to any age group or sex. People who use spectacles, diabetics, those suffering from hypertension, asthma patient and those without communicable diseases can donate eyes. Persons who were infected with or died from AIDS, Hepatitis B or C, rabies, septicemia, acute leukemia, tetanus, cholera, meningitis or encephalitis cannot donate eyes.
Steps For Eye Donation
Close the eyelids of donor after death and cover them with plastic bag containing ice or with moist cotton wool. Switch off the fan and if available switch on the air conditioner. Raise the donor’s head by about six inches by placing two pillows under it. If possible keep the dead body of donor on the bed so that doctor can easily obtain the eyes. Eyes must be removed within 4-6 hours after death.
In a world of complete darkness, the ability to see loved ones can be nothing more than a dream. Pledging one’s eye and motivating friends and relatives to donate eyes of the deceased can make those dreams come true.
*Information Officer, PIB, Bangalore
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