What is the dark life, what is the value of light, what is the value of eyes? Only a naked eyewitness can answer these questions. The fortnight of eye donation after death is celebrated every year in the country from 25 August to 8 September and World Sight Day is celebrated every year on the second Thursday of October. There can be two reasons for clouding of eyes, either from birth or due to some terrible disease after birth, lack of food at a young age, injury or some kind of infection also causes the cornea to become cloudy. Due to this, vision may deteriorate or disappear completely. 52 lakh people in India and more than 2 crore people in the world are victims of blindness, out of which a large number are children, which is about 2,70,000 in India.

lack of awareness

According to Health Department data, about 1.5 crore people in our country need eyes, who have become blind due to an accident or in childhood, but only 35,000 eyes are donated every year in the country. Due to lack of awareness and many rumors, many people shy away from eye donation.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 2.2 billion people worldwide are affected by blindness and visual impairment. According to WHO, most people with visual impairments are over the age of 50, although visual impairment can affect people of all ages. It is a matter of concern that almost half of the world's blind population lives in India. It is estimated that the number of people suffering from corneal blindness in India will increase to 10.6 million by 2020. Of these, 30 lakh people have profound vision loss. They may benefit from cornea transplants. 150,000 corneal transplants are expected to be performed every year in India alone.

What is eye donation?

Eyes can be donated after death and it is a noble cause. Eyes should be donated within 6 hours of the person's death. Anyone can become a voluntary donor before death, regardless of age, gender, blood group or religion. Eyes can be donated to the eye bank after death. Donated eyes cannot be sold.

What is I Bank?

Eye Bank is a non-profit charitable organization that facilitates the procurement of eyes, their processing, maintenance and evaluation and ultimately their placement in the hospital for the patient after death. The first eye bank was started by Dr. Townley Patton and Dr. John McLean in New York City in 1944. In 1945 in India, Dr. RES Muthiah performed the first successful corneal transplant in Chennai. Since then eye surgeons and civic activists have launched massive campaigns to raise awareness about eye donation in their local communities.

corneal blindness

Cornea is the outermost/front transparent layer/part of the eye, which shows color but behind this cornea there is a structure called iris, which has a color and depending on that color the eye looks brown, black, blue or green. Is . The cornea is transparent and has power, which enables the image to be focused on the retina. If for some reason the cornea loses its transparency then the person's vision reduces and he starts going blind. It can be treated by removing the damaged cornea and replacing it with a healthy cornea, which can only be provided by another person.

Anyone can donate eyes

To donate your eyes you have to fill the form, which is available in all major hospitals, eye hospitals/banks. You can also fill this form online. This link will take you to the Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI) and provide you with all the information you need. It is very important that you share your decision to donate eyes posthumously with your family so that in the event of your death someone can inform Eyebank within 6 hours of your death. Till the arrival of the team, water should be sprinkled on the eyes of the deceased or a wet cloth should be applied on the eyes.

Notifying I Bank

Once the eye bank is informed about the desire to donate an eye, a team of trained personnel along with an eye specialist and a qualified consultant arrive at the donor's home or hospital. Written informed consent is taken first and the entire process takes only 10-15 minutes. Many patients are waiting for cornea transplant, so within just 3-4 days, most of the eyes are transplanted to the needy ones free of cost. Complete information about who has received the donated eyes is given to the donor's family. After donating the eyes, there is no deformity on the face of the deceased and complete care is taken of them.

anyone can donate

Any person of any age or gender can donate their eyes. However, eye banks generally accept donations from donors aged 2 to 70 years. Even if the deceased had diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, wore glasses or had cataract surgery, they can still donate their eyes. Anyone who has had LASIK surgery can donate their eyes, but only a portion of the cornea will be used for transplant.

trying to give new life

A person dying from rabies, tetanus, AIDS, jaundice, cancer, septicemia, acute leukemia, cholera, food poisoning or drowning cannot donate his eyes. Understanding the number of corneal blindness in our country and life without eyes, everyone should come forward to donate their eyes. We should not believe in any superstition, myth and misconception but should try to give a new life to the victim by donating eyes.