SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 9: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) women’s wing will launch a special campaign across the state to raise awareness of the importance of eye donation.
IMA Jharkhand chapter women’s wing president Dr Bharti Kashyap announced her ambitious project at the closing ceremony of the ‘37th National Eye Donation Fortnight’ (August 25 to September 8) held on Thursday at Ranchi.
“The main mission of this ambitious project is to create awareness on large scale about the importance of eye donation and encourage people to take a pledge of donating eyes after death,” said Dr Bharti, who is a renowned eye specialist in the state.
Dr Bharti, who has been monitoring the drive for eye donation, expressed disappointment that the eye donation ratio is not encouraging in the state as well as the country. It is less than even one per cent.
Every year, lakhs of people die but only around 25,000 donate their eyes. National Eye Donation Fortnight is observed every year so that people pledge to donate their eyes before death for giving a new lease of life to people living in the dark.
“In India, one eye of around 68 lakh people are affected with retinal blindness while around 10 lakh people are sightless from both the eyes,” Dr Bharti observed. She further said that National Blindness Survey 2019 reports the retinal problem is the main reason for blindness among people less than 50 years of age. That is why more than 25,000 people are still living in a dark world.
The IMA women’s wing president said her campaign did not stop even during the Corona pandemic. In the last two years ( 2020- 2021) during the Covid-19 period, 124 eye transplants were successfully conducted at her Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospital Ranchi.
“I have focused on bailing out helpless tribal people affected with the disease and living in a remote area. Two children of the Pahan family in the Khunti district had lost their sight due to a retinal problem. They were successful given free-of-cost eye transplantation at Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospital. One child is still waiting for an eye donor. So, I have launched a comprehensive drive for awareness of eye donation,” Dr Kashyap said.
